"Sci Fi Music" Topic

Hi Guys!

I'm putting together a playlist of music downloads to have the background whilst I play Future War Commander games. So far I have the obvious

O Fortuna (Omen Theme)
Mars (the Planets Suite)
Terminator 2 Judgement Day
Various themes from HALO, GEARS OF WAR 2, and MASS EFFECT.

I want gritty rather than Star Wars style full stirring symphony orchestra.

Do you have any further recommendations? I'll post the finished playlist on my blog.

Cheers
Mark
dropshiphorizon.blogspot.com

Theme from "Requiem for a Dream", "Matrix Revolutions" soundtrack, especially the Don Davis stuff, Rob Dougan's "Furious Angels" and "Speed Me Towards Death".

Hall of the Mountain King?

I find both modern heavy metal versions link

and clasic versions link

good backing for sf games.

x42

Soundtracks to:
Aliens
Matrix
Babylon 5
The Fifth Element
Halo(the video game)

Cheers, Xin

Halo soundtracks 1, 2, 3.
Command & Conquer Soundtrack.
Ground Control 1& 2 soundtracks.
PC game Deus Ex soundtrack.

If you don't want classical orchestra stuff, then also try the soundtrack to Heavy Metal (esp. "Running Radar" and "Veteran of a Thousand Psychic Wars").

My son likes Dragonforce, but I find that they sound like "The Chipmunks on Speed" to me (the music, not the singing).

Rob

Try the OST to "Akira"

link

Basil Poledouris' theme from Starship Troopers is what came to mind when I saw this topic. Here's a sample (not very good) of the song.

link

Also, try the Beowulf soundtrack – some of the music sounded kind of futuristic in a strange sort of way!

Gears of War 1 and 2 soundtracks (Very good)
Unreal tournament 3 soundtrack
"Blackhawk Down" soundtrack

"Evangelion" Soundtrack

I prefer classics like Shostakovichs 7th and the above mentioned soundtracks or even parts of Brittens War Requiem, but you can find some interesting stuff for future war in industrial, ambient and the like.
Have a look at 'Triarii','Arditi', 'Lustmord' or 'Suicide Commando'.

Also the "Hell March" theme from Command and Conquer. it's free on the web.

Mark, you can't have a Sci-Fi soundtrack w/out this classic!

link

Oh my God! And it started so well!!!

Thanks for all the suggestions so far, apart from Uesugi's last one. LOL!

Cheers
Mark

If you're sadistic, you can always get the old LP's of William Shatner singing.

Well, for the mellow moment when you're getting the figures out, setting up the plan and its all looking good, "The Journey of The Sorceror" by the Eagles was the theme for Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy. But when the game starts and your plan goes south, its got to be the more urgent stuff from Halo and GoW. And then, when the gorram alien scum or Feds have whupped you, the lyrics from the Firefly theme are always appropriate….

I always find myself humming Ride of The Valkyries when doing anything gunship related. No idea why. And my recce units seem to get me humming the theme fom the original "Assault On Precinct 13".

Whatya mean, "apart from Uesugi's"…well, I guess there's no accounting for taste. To each his own.

Perhaps this is more what your looking for Mark?
link

Some music from the anime/game fan,

Final Fantasy: Advent Children
Gundam 00
Gundam 0083
Zeta Gundam
Front Mission 3
Killzone
Gundam 08th MS Team Symphonic
Predator
Mercenaries (the game)
Reign of Fire
Steamboy
Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War (yes, the music is out there)
Warhammer 40K: Winter Assualt
Warhammer 40K: Dark Crusade (so is those 2, 124 tracks)
Batman Begins
Aliens vs. Predator (game)
Venus Wars

Non-soundtracks
Phantoms of the High Seas – Nox Arcana
Blood of the Dragon – Nox Arcana

Some aren't really themed for sci-fi games, but I find them gritty and work just as well.

Try and find the "Akira" soundtrack. "Dune" has some great music.

Blade Runner soundtrack

Vangelis' "Blade Runner" is brilliant in its way, but I'd think it rather too introspective for war gaming background music. For a more suitable entries by Vangelis, try "Heaven and Hell" and "Masks". Both have a number of poignant tunes tho it's not all "Sturm und Drang".

Anyway. Science fiction music as per the title of the thread is a bit of a hobby horse of mine, but it's a different beast from gaming background music of course. There are in fact much scifi oriented rock available, for example, but I suspect the lyrics and even singing per se might distract.

With this in mind, and seeing as people tend to have the soundtracks pretty well covered (no love for Danny Elfman's work tho? -- for shame!), I'll give a couple of suggestions off the top of my head from classical and rock (broadly speaking). Few of these are specifically science fiction themed but IMHO they'd work for war games background.

Christopher Franke's "Babylon 5 Suites" and "Messages From Earth" (not-quite-soundtracks)
Kong's "Phlegm" and "Push Comes To Shove"
Laibach's "Macbeth"
Jon Leifs' "Saga Symphony" and "Hekla"
Magma's "1001° Centigrades", "Mekanïk Destruktïw Kommandöh" and "Köhntarkösz" (maybe others)
Sergei Prokofiev's "Scythian Suite"
Gerard Schurmann's "Six Studies Of Francis Bacon"
Sophia's "Sophia", "Herbstwerk" and "Spite"
Igor Stravinsky's "The Rite Of Spring"

Wing Commander
The new Battlestar Galactica
Conan the Barbarian!

these jsut some of the ones i listen to…

techno remix of Requiem for a Dream:
link

infected mushroom, cities of the future
link

flobots, handlebars
link

static-x, destroyer
link

static-x, otsego undead
link

(anything from Static X really, especially the Machine, Shadow Zone, and Start a War albums)

metallica, all nightmare long
link

rehab, bump
link

If you like the drums they use in Battlestar Galactica for combat scenes, try Japanese Taiko drumming albums. Kodo is the most internationally famous group.

Rammstein does some great stuff. Try Moskau, Reise Reise, and Feuer Frei.

Soundtrack to Run Lola Run.

how can i forget apocalyptica (four cellists covering metallica songs)
link
link
link
link
and so on and so forth…..

All the soundtracks for Battlestar Galactica. Bear McCreary is a freakin' genius.

Hans Zimmer's ANYTHING. Honestly, his music is I think is some of the most exciting and he has some of the most popular soundtracks. Music from The Rock, Armageddon, and even some tracks on Pirates of the Carribean II & III sound rather time-neutral.

Pick and choose some tracks from the Lord of the Rings soundtracks. Anything with the ominous vocals could easily be transplanted from fantasy to science fiction.

Most orchestral scores tend to be fairly genre neutral IMCO. Heavily rhythmical, percussion oriented works seem to crop up slighly more on the scifi side of the field, but it doesn't look to be a defining convention.

Speaking from personal incredulity, I must say I've rarely heard a sound track that specifically attempts to describe a scifi concept seen on the screen with scoring decisions. John Williams' "Star Wars" scores, especially "The Battle Of Hoth" from "Empire Strikes Back" are notable exceptions.

As to the main subject, after looking at my currently on-shelf CD collection, I also recommend Delerium's "Spheres" and Magyar Posse's "Kings Of Time". Both can actually even be considered somewhat scifi-inspired.

Forbidden Planet "electronic tonalities" experimental music is an oldie but a goodie.

Mike "Bunkermeister" Creek
bunkermeister.blogspot.com

Beethoven 7th symphony 2nd movement (featured in Zardoz)-good majestic landing music.
Also Saint Saens Dance Macabre -I bring on hordes of Nurgle stuff to this!
Excuse any spellings-I'm too lazy to check…

Blade Trinity has some amped up music and Ghosts of mars has an excellent heavy metal instrunmental soundtrack.

Thanks Guys for all your input.

I've gone for a mixture of gritty background instrumental/soundtrack and alternative/heavy metal taking on board suggestions here and inspired by some of the tracks accompanying compilation Iraq/Afghanistan action videos on Youtube. Trying to second guess what a Grav tank driver will have playing in his headset.

Cheers
Mark

link

maybe this? ;)

Check out Chick Corea's To The Stars album.

Some damn fine space jazz.