What music is the soundtrack to a cyberpunk world for you?

3 years ago by Edgerunner Alexis to c/cyberpunk

For me, I'm not sure.

I love synthwave like GUNSHIP and PYLOT and Essenger as much as the next cyberpunk, but besides a few particular GUNSHIP and Essenger songs, they don't feel quite right.

Neither does straight up punk rock or metal, which is the other stuff I listen to.

The cyberpunk music I want needs to be a blend of the two I think — the atmospheric sounds and use of synths and technological effects from synthwave, and the overt rage and message and aggressive, imperfect rock sound of punk rock and metal.

Edit: I'm liking industrial so far!

revengeday 7 points 3 years ago

I hope this is not shameless, because I am a musician myself. But I try to implement the cyberpunk vibe in my music. For me cyberpunk as music is always a mixture of dirty sounds, darkness, and the thought of losing everything. That's what I've tried to do with a few EPs and tracks.

Here is a small selection that cyberpunks found to be good:

In general, techno, neurofunk, dirty punk-rock is cyberpunk for me.

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Wintersong 3 points 3 years ago

I just finished listening to Sandevistan, it definitely has the feel of Cyberpunk to me. I mean admittedly based on my other comment I'm not entirely sure what that feel is, but I liked it a lot and it definitely fits for me.

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revengeday 4 points 3 years ago

Whooo, it's the feeling of having too much cyberware installed and being on the verge of cyberpsychosis!

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UxorialCow 2 points 3 years ago

Ill check those out when I get off work! I like the name Sandevistan lol, did you submit a track for that 2077 dlc song contest?

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revengeday 4 points 3 years ago

I read the terms and conditions of the contest and decided not to participate, unfortunately I would lose all my rights to my music - I didn't want to do that.

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UxorialCow 4 points 3 years ago

Yeah, that part of it definitely eeked me out too. I submitted as practice on the production side of things but if i didnt want to practice anyway I definitely wouldnt want to handover rights like that

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revengeday 3 points 3 years ago

In the end, CDPR are also just corpos :/

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archon 2 points 3 years ago

Hey - I've been wanting to learn about music production myself. Got as far as installing LMMS and looking for VST plugins. Would love some beginner tips if you have any to share!

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revengeday 3 points 3 years ago

Now you have asked a good question that is not so easy to answer, unfortunately I do not have the ultimate beginner tip.

But what I can recommend to you is to play around with loops a bit - with that you can get a good basic idea of a song.

In the beginning I would advise you to do without plugins and learn the DAW. I use Ableton and have almost no plugins installed, because I create almost all instruments directly in Ableton - also saves money ;)

But I invite you to our Discord instance where many creative people are (see DATATERM Sidebar), we all try to help each other and give beginners gladly tips!

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edgerunneralexis 2 points 3 years ago

I'll definitely check out your music, I was 100% expecting you to reply with it when I made this post :D

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revengeday 2 points 3 years ago

I could not resist, sorry! :D

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Arcanus 1 point 3 years ago

Oh this is BANGIN!

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revengeday 2 points 3 years ago

Thanks choom!

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Shawdow194 7 points 3 years ago

I love Perturbators music

Feels like cyberpunk dystopia jams

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edgerunneralexis 1 point 3 years ago

Ooh, Perturbator! I can definitely see that. I was never able to really mesh with his music though

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SynAck 6 points 3 years ago

A lot of my foundational impressions were based on movie soundtracks of the likes of “Johnny Mnemonic”, “Strange Days”, “The Matrix”, and “The Crow”. In my college days, I was really into the industrial genre and the likes of NiN (the Broken/Fixed era), Front 242, Sister Machine Gun, God Lives Underwater, and Machines of Loving Grace. Then I got into EDM for a while, as a lot of the software devs I lived and worked with were into that genre.

These days, I’ve been getting into darkwave and synthwave. I’m a big fan of our very own @revengeday@dataterm.digital, Dance With The Dead, Extra Terra, Neon Nox, Lazerpunk, and DreamReaper to name a few.

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Sulecen 5 points 3 years ago

Absolutely going to also say the Industrial genre as others have said, that's my go to. Bands like Nine Inch Nails, Author & Punisher, Skinny Puppy, 3TEETH, Ramstein, early Ministry and My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult , Lead Into Gold, Venus in Aries, Gary Numan. All of these get my blood pumping and make me want to move in the dystopian hellscape we live in that's moving towards cyberpunk every day.

Another genre I feel like really has a Cyberpunk vibe is early Trip-hop, specifically Massive Attack.

Also some electronic bands, like The Glitch Mob, Danger, and The Prodigy give me that same cyberpunk energy.

Finally an offshoot of the Industrial and punk genres, EBM, Electronic Body Music, with it's grinding melodies and it's pounding beat give me the cyberpunk vibe. Example bands that I personally like are Nitzer Ebb and Street Fever.

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Sulecen 3 points 3 years ago

Now that I'm home, here are links to all the artists I mentioned.

Industrial Cyberpunk suggestions

Nine Inch Nails - The Becoming

Author & Punisher - Nihil Strength (this one is cyberpunk in more ways than one, as he makes his own industrial instruments)

Skinny Puppy - I'mmortal

3TEETH - Atrophy

Ministry - Land of Rape and Honey

My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult - After the Flesh (The band and this song was featured in the Crow, which is where this video get's it's footage from.)

Lead Into Gold - Hard Won Decay

Venus In Aries - Justice

Gary Numan - My Name Is Ruin (if you want a real crazy contrast, this is the same guy who did https://youtu.be/Im3JzxlatUs. He's been doing music since like 1978 and after NIN became a thing, he went industrial and has a great catalog, 23 albums since 1978.)

Trip-Hop cyberpunk suggestions

Massive Attack - Risingson

Massive Attack - Angel

And as a bonus one of Massive Attacks members solo career Tricky - Evolution Revolution Love

Electronica/techno/EDM Cyberpunk suggestions

The Glitch Mob - I Need My Memory Back

Danger - 19:00 (He does mostly tracks without lyrics, which are amazing, but I love this track.)

The Prodigy - Firestarter

EBM (Electronic Body Music) Cyberpunk suggestions

Nitzer Ebb - Join in the Chant

Street Fever - La Corde

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Vitaly_Chernobyl 2 points 3 years ago

Great recommendations!

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Vitaly_Chernobyl 4 points 3 years ago

I'd recommend maybe checking out some post-industrial bands like Skinny Puppy or Front Line Assembly. Might be the vibe you're looking for.

Here are a couple of examples: Skiny Puppy - "Testure" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLm9mhh7gvg

Front Line Assembly - "Mindphaser" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWjBPIbJMzY

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edgerunneralexis 1 point 3 years ago

That sounds excellent! I actually just finished reading an essay that made industrial music sound like the natural cyberpunk successor to punk rock, so this is perfect timing!

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Vitaly_Chernobyl 2 points 3 years ago

What essay did you read if you don't mind my asking?

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edgerunneralexis 3 points 3 years ago

http://project.cyberpunk.ru/...

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timmy 3 points 3 years ago

I listen to all kinds of music but when I code it's always dream pop: Slowdive, Majesty Crush, POiSON GiRLFRiEND, 800 Cherries, Takako Minekawa, there are so many that I love.

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archon 3 points 3 years ago

I have always been partial to the Ghost in the Shell soundtrack. The intro chant from the 1995 movie has a more ethnic vibe as well, which is quite cool and a nice change of pace from the usual techno. The SAC series soundtrack is quite nice and varied also.

Of course, CP2077 has some real bangers.. I'd probably want a mix of music to suit the setting.

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edgerunneralexis 3 points 3 years ago

Ghost in the Shell is a good one. I do like the less western/techno flairs. Actually, that's something I really like about Akira's soundtrack as well, now that I think about it. And yeah, I agree, having music to suit the mood and setting is always important!

CP2077's music for me honestly comes the closest across the board to being what I want, while still having a ton of variety. But it isn't music I can typically enjoy listening to out of game for some reason.

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SeerLite 3 points 3 years ago

Check out Amaranthe - Digital World!

Edit: I was looking for new music the other day and came across this gem. Now I'm addicted to the whole album (but I'm not sure if it's all like what you're looking for, it's mostly heavy metal I think? I'm not good with genre names)

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Wintersong 3 points 3 years ago

Well my first experiences into Cyberpunk were through videogames, which is what set up my expectations of what "Cyberpunk" is pretty much (though I didn't even know the term at the time!) so I'll nerd out about them a bit. Most of my other Cyberpunk media has been through reading books so I don't have much music to associate with them then to change those expectations either. Video game music tends to be a bit different since it normally focuses more on being ambient the majority of the time, but it's pretty much what's in my mind now.

Deus Ex was my first I think and the music is quite engrained into my mind. Example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgIE6Pb_MFE I think it blends a sorta ambient feeling before going into a more aggressive tone later into the song.

Another game's whose music comes to mind right away is Uplink. I'm not sure if Uplink is actually "Cyberpunk" but it comes very close at the least if not. Hacker working outside of the law, with the possibility of working with a techno-anarchist group to destroy the internet set in the future (2010!!). But yea the music is what comes to mind when I think Cyberpunk hacker for me.

Of course if I talk about Cyberpunk music in games I have to talk about VA-11 Hall-A (I'll find any excuse to). The soundtrack here is a bit different, since the bar is more of a safe space from how messed up the world is for its patrons and I think that plays into the music Welcome to VA-11 Hall-A is a pretty "cozy" song, still has that futuristic vibe to it, but there's nothing really aggressive about it. Though it does also mix it up a bit in other songs Digital Drive has the more aggressive side and feels more "classic cyberpunk" to me but also still blends back into that "coziness" at parts.

Might as well finish off by talking about Cyberpunk 2077 a little since I loved that soundtrack too. Rebel Path was a great song which I think has the rage and aggressive you mention a bit. Then you have Outside No More which does pretty much the opposite and might not be as fitting, but I like the song so I'm putting it here anyway!

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ScrumblesPAbernathy 3 points 3 years ago

Gunship rules! If you're looking for low orbit cyberpunk God is an Astronaut. I really liked the Americana music in Hardspace: Shipbreaker but that's kind of proto cyberpunk.

There's always post rock staples like Godspeed You Black Emperor for more of a desolate abandoned town on the outside of the megalopolis.

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Gatsby 3 points 3 years ago

Probably biased as it's what's in my playlist rn, but in my opinion, witchhouse /glitchcore / experimental hip hop style stuff. Kind of on the nose but electropunk

Darkwave Sabbat by siouxxie sixxsta

Violent by carolesdaughter

Holes by CRIM3S

Quartz by IC3PEAK

Make You Cry - IC3PEAK

Either that or just full force corporation made music like the Wendy's Hip-hop mixtape

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Bubacxo 3 points 3 years ago

Honorable mention - the soundtrack to Fight Club exudes the same corporate desperation, without the cyber elements.

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Xaro 3 points 3 years ago

Megadrive - Acid Spit <3

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cyberpunk

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"High tech, low life."

"The street finds its own uses for things."

We all know the quotes and the books. But cyberpunk is more than a neon-soaked, cybernetic aesthetic, or a gritty dystopian science fiction genre. It is a subculture composed of two fundamental ideas: PUNK, and CYBER.

The PUNK: antiauthoritarian, anticapitalist, radical freedom of expression, rejection of tradition, a DIY ethic.

The CYBER: all that, but high-fuckin'-tech, ya feel? From DIYing body mods to using bleeding edge software to subvert corporate interests. It's punk for the 22nd century.

This is a community dedicated to discussing anything cyberpunk, be it books, movies, or other art that falls into the genre, or real life tech, projects, stories, ideas or anything else that adheres to these ideals. It's a place for 'punks from all over the federated Net to hang out and swap stories and meaningful content (not just pictures of city nightscapes).

Welcome in, choom.

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cyberpunk

@dataterm.digital

login for more options

"High tech, low life."

"The street finds its own uses for things."

We all know the quotes and the books. But cyberpunk is more than a neon-soaked, cybernetic aesthetic, or a gritty dystopian science fiction genre. It is a subculture composed of two fundamental ideas: PUNK, and CYBER.

The PUNK: antiauthoritarian, anticapitalist, radical freedom of expression, rejection of tradition, a DIY ethic.

The CYBER: all that, but high-fuckin'-tech, ya feel? From DIYing body mods to using bleeding edge software to subvert corporate interests. It's punk for the 22nd century.

This is a community dedicated to discussing anything cyberpunk, be it books, movies, or other art that falls into the genre, or real life tech, projects, stories, ideas or anything else that adheres to these ideals. It's a place for 'punks from all over the federated Net to hang out and swap stories and meaningful content (not just pictures of city nightscapes).

Welcome in, choom.

go to feed...