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Katamori

Cyberpunk(-esque) music

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Since I played though Deus Ex (the 2000 one) I became seriously addicted to cyberpunk genre. Though, I found it difficult to find cyberpunk(-esque) music. Those which are called cyberpunk on YT are not satisfying for me. The last great example for this was the soundtrack of Introversion Software's first game, Uplink.

Is there anyone who knows something similar?

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Deus Ex soundtrack was done by the good old tracker music gang consisting of Alexander "Siren" Brandon, Daniel "Basehead" Gardopée and Michiel "M.C.A." van Den Bos. Just follow their path through the tracker scene and gaming industry. Crusader: No Remorse and the sequel, the Unreal series and stuff. Frank Klepacki flirts with a similar sound in C&C and Tiberium Sun.

That's all "tracker music" rather than "cyberpunk" though. I don't know if jungle is your thing, but there's nothing as cyberpunk for me as the System Shock 2 soundtrack by Eric Brosius.

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Chaser has a decent sound track, and Blade Runner fits the bill imo. Also, Power Glove, who did the soundtrack for that Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon game, has a ton of great stuff I'd call cyberpunk, or rather 80s retrotechno which is basically the same thing imo. I think Cyberpunk music though is also something that's sort of "Eye of the Beholder". Everyone's opinion may be different on what constitutes as CP or not CP.

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I'm not especially familiar with these soundtracks, nor with the term 'cyberpunk' as used with reference to music, but - having had a quick listen to the soundtracks that you mention - it reminds me quite heavily of the industrial tinged electronica that's quite popular in some quarters (a lot of which is quite soundtrack-esque, also). Two good places to start would be the German label Ant-Zen (especially stuff on their sub-label Hymen), and the US label n5MD.

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So cyberpunk is a musical term? The closest I can think of is cybergoth which is basically how worshippers of EBM/Industrial/Aggrotech like to call themselves once they put on some fancy stuff.

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You may find 1970's/1980's electronica to be of interest; the folks at Straylight drew many inspirations from the likes of Vangelis, Kraftwerk, and Tangerine Dream.

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These are the only channels you need to your magical 80's synthesizer journey:

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCv2CW0nzBTZNif_1yo6be3g

and

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqf9MRHECH46mX5YDXIM5iQ

and

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCD-4g5w1h8xQpLaNS_ghU4g

Maniac Synth uploads about 15-20 tracks per week so it should keep busy listening them. Good thing this kind of music is revived.

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There's not really any point in using the term cyberpunk to describe music since it got nothing to do with music. Cyberpunk pertains to the setting of a story. Future, technologically advanced commonly with elements of augmented humans, dark and more or less dystopian. Calling any music cyberpunk music is essentially nonsensical unless it's a thematic piece that is telling a cyberpunk story.

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kristus said:

There's not really any point in using the term cyberpunk to describe music since it got nothing to do with music. Cyberpunk pertains to the setting of a story. Future, technologically advanced commonly with elements of augmented humans, dark and more or less dystopian. Calling any music cyberpunk music is essentially nonsensical unless it's a thematic piece that is telling a cyberpunk story.

This.

I've seen cyberpunk films with classical, pop and industrial.

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I dunno; not to go too OT, but a quick bit of googling indicates that the word has an established use in this connection. Of course, there are established uses of the term which don't have anything to do with music, but so what?
Though, it's not obvious to me that it picks out a very well defined category, and so its usefulness could be questioned, but then again the same goes for many terms for categories of music.

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I agree with Kristus, but there are/were a few early electronic bands that influenced or were influenced by cyberpunk film and literature that they're aesthetically married. I myself would not only use the term to describe a certain genre of sci-fi, but also to describe a very specific collection of music released in the late 70s and early 80s.

Kraftwerk, Gary Numan / Tubeway Army, Cabaret Voltaire and Front 242 I would say are the essential cyberpunk musical acts.



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Ed said:

I agree with Kristus, but there are/were a few early electronic bands that influenced or were influenced by cyberpunk film and literature that they're aesthetically married. I myself would not only use the term to describe a certain genre of sci-fi, but also to describe a very specific collection of music released in the late 70s and early 80s.

Kraftwerk, Gary Numan / Tubeway Army, Cabaret Voltaire and Front 242 I would say are the essential cyberpunk musical acts.
]


i listened to kraftwerk on virgin airlines

kinda good but not as good as synth music or renard queenston

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kristus said:

There's not really any point in using the term cyberpunk to describe music since it got nothing to do with music. Cyberpunk pertains to the setting of a story. Future, technologically advanced commonly with elements of augmented humans, dark and more or less dystopian. Calling any music cyberpunk music is essentially nonsensical unless it's a thematic piece that is telling a cyberpunk story.


In my terms, cyberpunk music is that can give back the feeling and the atmosphere of the world of cyberpunk movies and games. For me, even this is also the kind of music I can call "cyberpunk music".

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dew said:

Frank Klepacki


Not bleak enough for my view of cyberpunk, but I have no regrets picking up this album. Klepacki's incredible, C&C has one of the most unique soundtracks of all time, and I love pretty much everything the guy's done.

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As far as the OP description goes (since Cyberpunk is more of a literary / visual thing, so it's difficult to associate with music) Dew basically nailed what I think will deliver to Katamori's pleasure-center.

Just to supplement, some other terms you may find useful in your Quest: demo, demoscene, mod (as in module), and even chiptunes have some strange, dark themes if you dig around.

There is a massive amount of material here, and with that comes a massive amount of bad material. But some sites you can sift through things according to rating / genre, etc.

Here's a random one I listened to today for the first time because of this thread http://modarchive.org/index.php?request=view_by_moduleid&query=45585

Another incredible resource: http://www.pouet.net/

Another tune from the "scene": http://stumusic.bandcamp.com/track/hiber-nation

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I'll have to check out some of the suggestions, I love DX / C&C music (even though I'm not strictly into electronic music). So far Front Line Assembly: Bio-Mechanic is right up my alley.

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Katamori said:

In my terms, cyberpunk music is that can give back the feeling and the atmosphere of the world of cyberpunk movies and games.


Don't be surprised you get undesired stuff if your definition of it is vague. Most of electro-industrial has a futuristic/sci-fi vibe to it.
Have something:

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