Gaming-Inspired Musicians You Should Check Out

If there's one vice I spend too much of my time consuming other than video games, it's music. Those who know me know I spend almost all of my waking hours "plugged in" (as my Gran puts it) to a pair of earphones.

Something that's made me severely aware of this fact recently is Spotify's 'Year Wrapped' feature. If you're not familiar, it tells you how many minutes of music you've listened to on Spotify in the last year, as well as the artists you listened to most. Here's mine:

I am unashamed of my affinity for a bit of Coldplay

That adds up to 984 hours, or 41 days. Evidently, I will be deaf before I hit 30.

You might notice the fifth of my 'Top Artists', Miracle of Sound, one of the musicians I listen to who represents a great combination of gaming and music. You're probably familiar with their type. After all, there's been loads of gaming-inspired musicians who've popped up on YouTube over the last decade or so. From TryHardNinja to Dan Bull, it's kind of hard to miss them. Nevertheless, I thought I'd list a few of my favourites. All of these are also a lot less popular than those two aforementioned, so if you haven't heard of them, you should definitely check them out.

Miracle of Sound

We'll start with the one I've already proven I actually listen to.

Gavin Dunne, better known as Miracle of Sound, has been making music all about games since 2011 (and he's ventured into film and TV-inspired music too). So far, he's released eight albums of these (appropriately named Level 1-Level 8). He has plenty of original non-gaming related music too, including an album full of chill instrumentals ('Vistas'), and a sick metal album ('Metal Up').

Something Gav has excelled at since he started Miracle of Sound is making songs that fit the atmosphere of the games they're inspired by perfectly. From slow jazz ballads to electronic rock and even doo-wop, genre boundaries are definitely not something he's inhibited by either. Thankfully so, since every album he's released since the beginning has been chock full of winners.

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/miracleofsound
Bandcamp: https://miracleofsound.bandcamp.com/

Some Personal Favourites: Clockworks (Dishonored 2), Calamity (Bastion), Don't Say A Word (MGS V), Fires Far (Dark Souls II), Ditto (SOMA)

Benn Down

If you read the last piece on this blog, you'll know Benn already. As mentioned there, some of Benn's most popular works are gaming-inspired. 

Alongside his multiple Call of Duty Zombies albums, he's also made an album inspired by Ghosts' Extinction mode, as well as individual songs inspired by Borderlands, The Elder Scrolls, Halo Wars, and more. His gaming network and forum PlayTheGame has helped these gain popularity, and is also a great source of gaming content.

Most of Benn's gaming songs have been solo projects, though his bands have ventured into gaming music as well. Rap/rock act Two Down have made a song inspired by Black Ops II's campaign, and the Zombies III album (as well as a Titanfall song) was released under Group 916, his gaming music band with guitarist Joey Staxx. While less so related to COD than their predecessors, Benn's Z albums (the second of which is releasing soon), share some connections to Treyarch's Zombies mode as well. 

Benn's Gaming Music: https://www.hurtrecords.com/collections/benn 

Some Personal Favourites: Cold Dead Crows I (Z.1), Yesterday (Fallout 4), Aed (Elder Scrolls), Borderlands (<---), Attrition (Titanfall)

Trocadero

Calling Trocadero 'gaming-inspired' is definitely using the term a *bit* more loosely than with the other examples. In truth, the Massachusetts-hailing band's music is mainly inspired by Red vs Blue, a Machinima series by Rooster Teeth. But that series in itself is inspired by and filmed entirely within Halo, so it's close enough. Regardless, they do great music, so I don't feel too bad about repping it this way.

Trocadero isn't just inspired by RvB, they actively contribute to the soundtrack, as after frontman Nico Audy-Rowland sent the creators one of their songs ('Blood Gulch Blues'), it became the show's opening theme. Trocadero has contributed many more times to the soundtrack since. Great series, great music.

Youtube (Fan Page): https://www.youtube.com/user/TrocaderoFanPage/videos

Some Personal Favourites: Funny Farm, Half, Life, Colors, Good Fight, Bolt

Borderline Disaster

This recommendation is definitely the most niche of the lot, as it is based entirely on their COD Zombies songs, but BD has a lot more music besides those, gaming-inspired and original.

Back to Zombies though, the hip-hop duo has a song for almost every Treyarch map, going from Nacht Der Untoten to Gorod Krovi. All of them go well with slaying the endless hordes of the undead (just don't expect overly poetic lyrics).

I believe they have disbanded now (or at least slowed down a bit), but Rockit Gaming has been formed by one half of the duo, and they're still going strong. If you like BD's stuff, give Rockit a look too. Jr rizzo has also done some awesome music videos for some of them if you want something to watch while listening.

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/BORDERLINEDISASTER/featured

Zombies Playlist (Missing the last few): http://bit.ly/2B2UD9L 

Jrrizzo's videos: http://bit.ly/2D7A6CV

Some Personal Favourites: Part 1 (Nacht-Der Riese), Part 6 (Moon), Part 8 (Nuketown), Part 12 (Origins) Part 13 (Shadows of Evil)

There are my recommendations for some of the less widely known gaming musicians. If you've never stumbled into this world, then I'd also recommend Dan Bull, JT Music, and TryHardNinja. They're some of the most popular, and all make great stuff. 

If you are familiar with the gaming melodies of YouTube yonder, then which musicians do you like best? Who should I check out? Distract in the comments below.