Haunting, atmospheric, sometimes-slightly trippy VGM?
 

Hey all,

I joined Gamingforce not more than a few days ago, and I'm wading cautiously, for the first time, into the ocean that's VGM.

Thankfully, this isn't going to be one of those "I'm not going to provide any of my musical interests, somehow give me music that I'd like" threads (assuming those exist). These are the VGM soundtracks that I've listened to, and liked enough to keep on my computer, not in any particular order of preference:

• Halo: ODST
• Machinarium
• Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory (Amon Tobin)
• SimCity 4
• Robotech: Invasion (Jesper Kyd)
• Wipeout: Pure

Any other suggestions for a complete VGM newbie who only knows what he likes, and not much else of the details of the "genre"?

When I'm dealing with non-VGM music, I'd normally plug a few favorite songs into Pandora and see what it spat out at me, but I don't have that ability with VGM.

Not really sure if you'd like it too much or if it's your style, but I have most of the Castlevania soundtracks on my computer, and I could throw some of those up somewhere for you. I mean, those games usually have a few songs on each soundtrack that has a haunting sound to it. Or if you want the soundtrack to hell, I have the the original tracks dumped from the NES Ghosts and Goblins. I mean, I don't know about you, but I have nightmares every time I hear those songs.

Oh, just remembered. Probably wouldn't hurt to check out the Okami soundtrack. That one's pretty spiffy too.

Trying to get a bunch of the same traits in any one soundtrack is going to be pretty difficult, in my experience, so I'll throw some out that I think represent what you described, and a few that are similar to the ones you posted.

Atmospheric/Haunting
Aquaria
Chrono Cross
Diablo
Diablo 2
Eternal Darkness
Fallout
Mirror's Edge
Metroid Prime
Silent Hill 3


Similar
Chaos Theory --> Neotokyo or Infamous (Infamous also has work from Amon Tobin)
Halo ODST --> Lots and lots of games. Something like Heavy Rain or Alan Wake might be a good place to start, though.
Robotech: Invasion --> Dark Reign 2
Wipeout Pure --> Lumines

What I recommend:

* Donkey Kong Country
* Silver

Thanks for the suggestions so far, guys. I'm resolving some hard drive space issues i but I'll take a look as soon as I can.

In other news, I just listened to the Red Dead Redemption soundtrack in FLAC. Holy shit, when Jose Gonzalez's "So Far Away" came on...chills up and down my spine.

Perfect lonely blues for 3 in the morning with nothing but your computer screen for company.

Think Cyperpunk. Deus Ex and Uplink swing to and fro from ambient to catchy.

For some of the trippiest VGM look up composers Zuntata. Darius Gaiden could start you off.

Just listen to the Silent Hill soundtracks. There's much like it around, but they are the best in the vgm scene.Some of the Resident Evil stuff, like Code Veronica are awesome too, and there's even an orchestral arrangement album of Resident Evil, which is fantastic: Bio Hazard Orchestra Album.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the Thief games.

Baroque OST
Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne OST
VM Japan OST (a stretch, but anyway)

I've just gotten ahold of "The Tone Rebellion" and it's exactly what you describe: thoroughly ambient, new-agey, haunting, and vaguely trippy. I'd recommend picking it up if you can.

Throw another Silent Hill vote in here... My gut reaction to this was that you seriously need to scope out those soundtracks (Silent Hill 1 through Silent Hill 3, particularly.) Even though they're kind of a far cry from the albums listed off in the opening post, Akira Yamaoka's work on the SH series is essential listening if you're getting into VGM. The man's ability to engineer fear-evoking sound is peerless, and it gets to me every time. It's madness.

worth saying that some of the tracks go far beyond "slightly trippy" tho. The atmospherics can seriously warp your mental state into something of nightmares, given the proper mood and context. So you might be getting a different kind of chill when you listen to the original Silent Hill soundtrack around 3am, heheh. on the other hand, Mary Elizabeth McGlynn contributes vocals to a few of the tracks on Silent Hill 3 and if nothing else, I can absolutely guarantee that you will dig the sound of those.

Above all though, welcome. Always groovy to hear from newer game music enthusiasts.