Soundtracks? Instrumentals?

erik!

Lookin for some good soundtracks and instrumental music to listen to while I'm working. I've got the LOTR movies and Halo 2, Silent Hill: Homecoming, LOTR online and C&C Red Alert 3 (great soundtrack btw), but I need more! I'm loving the stuff with flutes in them (main LOTR theme) and the choruses and wouldn't mind more. I've browsed through site like Jamendo and Last.fm, even MySpace and found some nice stuff in various genres (DIY-note, Mogwai).

Just wondering if there's anything in particular you folks really like? Sound off!

MoP

The Last Samurai has a nice soundtrack for working to. I also like the Gladiator music, and Pirates of the Caribbean. Danny Elfman's original Batman OST is also awesome.
I got the OST for The Dark Knight, but I don't really like that very much, it works in the movie but not as working music IMHO.

Rated Rrr

I've always liked the work from clint mansell. He did the soundtrack to requiem and a lot of other good things.

vik

I friggin love the music for the elder scrolls games, like Morrowind and Oblivion. It`s only second to SH2`s soundtrack in my book, check it out:

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvTs_BCFu1w[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-URrsISx-M&feature=related[/ame]

Vrav

This is pretty much my answer every time, but, Arcanum by Ben Houge.
http://www.terra-arcanum.com/sierra/media/media-soundtrack.html
http://www.benhouge.com/arcanum.html

The EVE soundtrack is often good, as well.
http://www.eveonline.com/download/music/

And then there's Shadow of the Colossus.

What do you have from movies/TV? Black Hawk Down, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Battlestar Galactica... recently got the soundtrack for The Kite Runner, which is amazing. The soundtrack to Hero by Tan Dun is great, sure you'd like that if you like fluteish stuff.

Edit: the competition!

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZdS2KKvwVo[/ame]

Steviant

All the Silent Hill games all have awesome creepy ambient music to make your skin crawl, good for anything horrory you're doing.

Burial's stuff is good, too. It has vocals in it, but they're so twisted and fucked and buried in crackle that they might as well just be another melody.

Course, theres Ghosts I-IV by Nine Inch Nails, thats instrumental and covers a wide variety of moods/textures/ideas.

Blackfilm is another one thats good for moody, lets-remake-Blade Runner-to-this stuff.

Telefon Tel Aviv, for scizophrenic electronic goodness. Once again, some of it has vocals, but a lot of it doesn't, and when they're there they tend to not be the focal point of the tracks.

Check out www.ocremix.com as well, lots of ReMixes (the capital M makes a difference, they're more reinterpretations than literal remixes) of video game music. Voices of the Lifestream, their FF7 album, is quite often in the background while I'm working on non-musical things, or reading.

Marcus Dublin

Here are a few soundtracks you should check out:

1. Let the right one in OST: [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iivf1dN5Xg&feature=PlayList&p=E3B3F7D2EC0A366B&index=0&playnext=1[/ame]

2. Jin Roh OST: [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weQVN4lR13Y&feature=PlayList&p=8D6A3BD955868CD7&index=0&playnext=1[/ame] ("check out some other works from Yoko kanno as well").

3. Beyond Good and Evil Soundtrack: [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQYvAN99xXk[/ame]

4. Panzer Dragoon Zwei / Azel / Saga / Orta Ost: [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UA0e3ufVmU&feature=PlayList&p=72EE7AC179E74EF1&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=1[/ame] (Do youself a favor and hunt these down, greatest soundtracks ever produced for anything, period!) PM me if you want the whole collection.

5. The Never ending Story Soundtrack: [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_csn46FwnI[/ame] (Classical score to a classic movie!)

Escaflowne Original Sound Track: [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7PrU1WLFFo&feature=PlayList&p=E175D4832685CCEE&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=3[/ame]

I'll add some more to the list should anything come to mind. Enjoy!

Zwebbie

I like Vivaldi when I'm working, but maybe I'm just odd. I've found that listening to game/movie soundtracks ruins the magic of them in the game/movie itself.

jocose

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcRnDTOZR7k[/ame]

LOVE this song


[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_3rhS99hWc&feature=related[/ame]

You also can't go wrong with some samurai champloo

Marcus Dublin

jocose wrote: »

LOVE this song

How could I forget this masterpiece, awesome soundtrack! Thanks for mentioning this jocose.

jocose

OH Yeah I almost forgot about Hybrid. If I have a crunch at work they are always what I put on first. This is one of my favorite songs of theirs:

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFkN07F4z8c[/ame]

bounchfx

love instrumental music. keep it coming. there's lots of different styles of it though so try to be more specific.

SOTC's soundtrack is wonderful, as is Okami's.

honestly FF music is easily some of the best in the industry, uematsu is amazing

blankslatejoe

I can second the soundtrack to Arcanum--excellent stuff. I'm a big fan of limited palette scores like that.

If you REALLY want to open yourself up to some new soundtrack stuff, give streamingsoundtracks.com a try--I'm always listening to that station, and it's turned me on to some excellent scores. I seriously cannot recommend it enough. And it's free!

If you're liking the LOTR soundtracks because of the flutes and choral stuff, you might get a kick out of some of these scores: the mission, conan the barbarian, the hunt for the red october, beyond rangoon, the abyss


And here's some scores I'm currently obsessed with:
-Hostage, by Desplat ---desplat is quickly becoming the new Elfman for me. His scores are errie, but refined.
sample: [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1GcNAiO2KE[/ame]

-Battlestar Galactica OSTs --- these made me want to watch the series. I knew the OST by heart before I saw a single episode. Bear Mcreary is an excellent new(ish) face on the soundtrack front.

sample:
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlcUwUwjLrs[/ame]

-The Village by J.N.Howard --- still one of my all time favorites. Falls into the same limited pallette categoy that Arcanum does.

sample:
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJEk824VIas[/ame]


-Monster, by B.T. --- this is a very repetitive score, but it gets stuck in my head all the time --
sample: [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ka39c8qtr4&feature=related[/ame]


--The newer zatoichi OST--this soundtrack has more energy than any soundtrack I've ever heard in my life.
sample: [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2rkn30Atic&NR=1[/ame]

--except perhaps Paprika..
sample: [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4doHF0dIuh0&feature=related[/ame]

blankslatejoe

Vrav wrote: »

What do you have from movies/TV? Black Hawk Down, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Battlestar Galactica... recently got the soundtrack for The Kite Runner, which is amazing. The soundtrack to Hero by Tan Dun is great, sure you'd like that if you like fluteish stuff.
[/url]

I can vouch for black hawk down and hero--both great scores! I'll have to check out kite runner

Parnell

jocose wrote: »

OH Yeah I almost forgot about Hybrid. If I have a crunch at work they are always what I put on first. This is one of my favorite songs of theirs:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFkN07F4z8c

Holy crap! This stuff is sweet!
Thanks for posting this!
B

Paul Pepera

It can be difficult to find, but there is a Complete Score (2 disc) recording of the Last of the Mohicans Soundtrack, which features most, if not all, of the original score written for the film by Trevor Jones and Randy Edelman; including the proper version of "Promentory" (the bit of music that plays during the end chase climax), as well as the beautiful End Titles piece.

Here is another good version of the "Promentory" track (starts around the middle):

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWGRnHOhGiE[/ame]

James Edwards

Listening to these lately...

World of Goo
Bionic Commando
Little Big Music

erik!

Wow so much good stuff! This is exactly what I wanted. I completely forgot about some of the music mentioned and I'm so glad I've been reminded! StreamingSoundtracks looks pretty cool, I'll have to browse that a little more. I'll be quite busy collecting all this now thanks!

claydough

I am having a lot of luck with SLUM DOG MILLIONAIRE. It has a very positive effect to yer werkin'

HellMark

If you have Halo 2 then you should like Halo 3. It's all kinds of win. I'm killing my disc from playing it so much. On a similar note Enya is great as well as Ka from Cirque de Soleil.

Rens

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMhhpX5gg8A&feature=related[/ame]

Xenobond

Here are a couple extra soundtracks that I like to add to the great ones already mentioned.

Games-
Battlefield 2142
Bionic Commando Rearmed
Braid
Castlevania Judgment
Dracula New Classic
Emperor - Battle for Dune
Forsaken
Metal Gear Solid soundtracks (Good mix of ambient and strong melodic pieces)
Monster Hunter (A lot more ambient tracks)

Movies-
The Bourne Identity soundtracks work pretty well for me, too.
Crimson Tide
The Hunt for Red October
The Rock
Tears of the Sun
The Thin Red Line

AstroZombie

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the soundtrack for American McGee's Alice by Chris Vrenna.

Marnik

xenobond beat me to it, I was going to say The Rock!

Such a great soundtrack

Paul Pepera

Don't forget Donnie Darko:

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNx-1M9MqM4&feature=related[/ame]

Farfarer

Movies...

Bourne Trilogy (John Powell)
Black Hawk Down (Hans Zimmer)
Hannibal (Hans Zimmer)
Hero
Broken Flowers
Underworld
Pi (Clint Mansell)
Taxi Driver (Bernard Hermann)
Lost in Translation
Fight Club (Dust Brothers)
Equilibrium (Klaus Badelt)
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (Mark Mothersbaugh)
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (Nick Cave & Warren Ellis)
12 Monkeys (Paul Buckmaster)

Games...

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines
EVE Online (RealX/Jon Hallur) *electronic, but nicely ambient - great working music
UT2k3 *fairly electronic, this one

Misc (instrumental stuff that's not a soundtrack to anything)...

BT - This Binary Universe
Nine Inch Nails - Ghosts I-IV
Bohren & Der Club of Gore - Sunset Mission
And Now We See But Through A Glass Darkly - Justin Lassen

EmAr

Some instrumentals:

Electric Orange - Reflections of 2072 and Everywhere
Jordan Rudess - Insectsamongus

...and I love the Grim Fandango soundtrack. God of War's soundtrack is nice too.

Ferg

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2evIg-aYw8[/ame]

Wahlgren

Ferg just KO´d everyone. I love that track. Its the soundtrack of my nerdcareer.

And as the others before me said. Silent hill has some wicked nice tunes. I usually listen to them while i work myself.

TheMadArtist

Some great soundtrack stuff on here that people have mentioned. Lately when I'm in the mood for instrumental music, I tend to put on some of Buckethead's more laidback stuff, like Population Override, Colma, or his Chicken Noodle albums with Travis Dickerson. He has some really awesome ambient stuff under the name Death Cube K as well.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKUYSl8c-90&feature=related[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-7sFT9M5K0[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FohIvmqsazU&feature=related[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=047dUghPXgU[/ame]

rawkstar

the ones i listen to the most are

Bourne Identity (all the bourne soundtracks are awesome, but i like the first one the most)
Donnie Darko
Batman Begins/Dark Knight
Blackhawk Down
Kingdom of Heaven
Event Horizon (this one is SAWEEEEEET)
Battlestar Galactica

bluekangaroo

Some of my fav tracks from my all time fav game ost's:

Metal Gear Solid:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K41tBFEhBcI

Chrono Cross:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jn4fzRK8Ze8

Turok 2:
-Truly epic, epic music

">

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

The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVY55e7UDWM

Xenogears:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pZ1L6XSU38

sir-knight

If you like the game/jpop stuff, I'm currently hooked into all the crazy people using the vocaloid2 software and the even crazier real people covering songs performed by software.

just search vocaloid on youtube for what I'm talking about. Some good (and some bad) stuff out there.

I pretty much have every game and anime soundtrack people have listed here :P

anything by yoko kanno is worth listening to.

fritz

man....where is the love? the CONAN the barbarian soundtrack RULES.

also, city of lost children....amelie.....mass effect....some really good stuff.

if you are looking for nice melodic music for some work stuff....check out the label 'kranky'....more specifically: tim hecker....i recommend 'an imaginary country' and 'harmony in ultraviolet'. it's some really good work music.

ps. stars of the lid can be really good as well....but sometimes....it's a little bit of a downer.

cheers

pps....if you ever get in one of those situations where your art lead or lead prog or whatever is bumming the FUCK out of you.....any 'meshuggah' cd will always set you as ease.

Joopson

Not sure if anyone mentioned, but definitely "Castlevania: Symphony of the Night"

Beautiful music

fast1

yes and castlevania S.O.N was one of my fave games in its time as well, gosh i feel like playing it again, missed a few secrets, does anyone know whether there were any secrets when you play as belmont?

Vrav

SotN is great; I have played that game multiple times since middle school, and still find myself drawn to it. Excellent playability and musical scores.

I am going to quote these for truth: Bionic Commando Rearmed, Monster, & Matt Uelman's goddamn hypnotizing Tristram theme. Another soundtrack of mention (for me) is the Outcast OST composed by Lennie Moore, performed by Moscow Symphony Orchestra & Chorus via William Stromberg; check out "Mountain World." Haunting. As for Braid, I love the original artist (Jami Sieber) so freaking much, and have in fact been listening to her albums all day. Check her out:

http://www.magnatune.com/artists/sieber

blankslatejoe,

Has anyone mentioned Amon Tobin's work for Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory? If so, also hugely QFT. Something perhaps somewhat similar to it would be Einstürzende Neubauten's Berlin Babylon OST, which is deliciously industrial. This is unfortunately the only trace of it I can find on YouTube, but is still a very good track. After the stupid intro clip:

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzYJelrNXHg[/ame]

Bronco

Im a massive fan the Age of empires 3 soundtrack that came with the collectors edition of the game.
Also nothing beats the original (very first) command and conquer soundtrack, thats just all sorts of win.
Also the soundtrack from the film 'Memphis belle' is another fav of mine.

John

Vitor

The Piano by Michael Nyman:

one of my favourites paino soundtracks, actually I'm been practise these two latelly:


[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dPS-EHl-FE[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZJtaqkqaqc[/ame]

CIgano

Talon wrote: »

Nine Inch Nails - Ghosts I-IV

this

blankslatejoe

Thanks vrav.

vitor's got some good picks; Nyman's pretty awesome. He also did gattaca and prospero's books. Along the same vein as nyman is Phillip Glass--in particular I liked mishima

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiKKuM9rkeQ[/ame]

im surprised no one has mentioned James Horner, ennio morricone or Jerry Goldsmith. Here's some tracks.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnfSub9dS04[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wV0wPBYDQ6Y&feature=related[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FB_HBlTzYFU[/ame]

Vitor

Oh Casper, that music really reminds my my childhood. I loved that movie bach then.

glib

I have no music to add to this thread that hasn't already been mentioned, but I wanted to say thanks since this thread has added at least 2GB to my music collection in the last couple days. Great stuff in here!

Deathelmz

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_6dah2ua3E&feature=related[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIUEi0ib3Fs[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yl9jyxYxMzs&feature=related[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=178cUSRlPrU[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lE5BZE2J8DE&feature=related[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XzDZJaeBkE&feature=related[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EhSexYsgUI&feature=related[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpkXhJPooXs&feature=related[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QrpuRELhB4&feature=related[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_7_IFViVWI&feature=related[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urViS-l9Uts&feature=related[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uW2Hbqiyz1c&feature=PlayList&p=DFC7069A830C1D00&index=12[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jc4XETqgoyQ&feature=related[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3155ngnSIs[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmiMEbnNg8s&feature=related[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNVSMrOQhK4&feature=related[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D24kRkTAJdM&feature=related[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOWXAS4tQc8&feature=related[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QyQ9PsOj6A&feature=related[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlUZUjrsTxY[/ame]

Microneezia

has the Akira soundtrack been mentioned? very good. been listening it for a decade or more.

The soundtrack to Aeon Flux animated episodes is amazing. the original EyeSpy drew neuman one

The soundtrack by Popul Vul for Herzog's Aguirre's Wrath of God, is absolute ambient heaven... (the film is gold as well) and the soundtrack has since been used in other films like Before Night Falls and others due to its unending epic awesome greatness....

Im going to have to restate Micheal Nyman, who is amazing... I forgot to transfer it off my mini disks... bah! mini disk!
anyway specifically the Peter Greenaway films like The Draughtsman's Contract... that soundtrack completely trumps even the film in this case...

Vrav

Sort of surprised no one has mentioned Myst, Riven and Exile. The only reason for this I can think of is that their excellence is simply such a given. Robyn Miller did the first two, Jack Wall did the third, who in searching for I am surprised to find has done some other titles recently as well, Jade Empire and (jointly) Mass Effect.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVdfgFr2-EU[/ame]
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCOysfj2L-s[/ame]
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEQQ8d3bQ68[/ame]

Edit: in a similar vein,

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVVwaAWJVQE[/ame]

Michael Knubben

Godspeed You! Black Emperor, 65daysofstatic, Brian Eno, Fennesz, Matt uelmen's fantastic Diablo II ost, the ost to Nobody Knows --the 2004 one--, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind ost, Pi ost, Requiem for a Dream ost, Dead Man ost, Wolves in the Throneroom (vocals, but more as musical instrument than of any lyrical purpose), Boards of Canada, Ulver, Terry Riley, Philip Glass, Steve Reich, Joe Hisaishi (kikujiro ost being a personal favourite), Fly Pan Am, William Basinksi, Silver Mt. Zion, Timesbold, Red Sparowes...

There's much more, but this is what I can think of right now, but I hope you enjoy it!

erik!

Oh man all this music makes the most mundane tasks seem epic! I just sent an e-mail *music swells*
Good stuff!

Jeff Parrott

Any Jon Brion movie score/soundtrack:

I Heart Huckabees
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless mind
Magnolia w/Amiee Mann
Punch Drunk Love
Synecdoche, New York
Step Brothers

Other soundtracks:
Inside Man (Terence Blanchard)
Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (Thomas Newman)
Finding Nemo (Thomas Newman)
Road to Perdition (Thomas Newman)
There Will Be Blood (Johnny Greenwood)

I don't really listen to game soundtracks unless it's something like Bioshock, Metal Gear, or something that has a real cinematic feel to it.

Ghost I-IV is great too.

Luxury

The Blade Runner 25th Anniversary Soundtrack
Shadow of the Colossus Soundtrack
The EVE Online stuff is good.
Half Life 1 & 2 soundtracks


UNKLE - Edit Music for a Film is fucking great. Samples remixed of some of the best soundtracks. I recommend this more than anything else.
UNKLE - End Titles...Stories for Film is a soundtrack for a non-existent movie is pretty good too.

Peris

Predator soundtrack is the best movie sountrack . Excellent to listen to when playing counterstrike!