I’m going to go out on a limb here and state that Blockhead is perhaps the greatest “mood” music I have ever had the pleasure of listening. My Werewolf players might recognize a song or two, as his stylings make up some of the background music I play during sessions.
I have always believed that the sounds used during a session are as equally important as the story itself. Music is a wonderful spark to the imagination, often the necessary push for a player to leave our world to enter the World of Darkness or whatever game one might play. Great story elements can literally fall flat with players if the mood and setting are not in the right place. It is a careful game of "give and take" in which no Storyteller is perfect, but I pride myself in the thinking that I come pretty close to inspiring characters to play their best each session.
Blockhead is not a conventional artist. Casual listeners might take his music and lump in into a techno section or perhaps the “pure moods, Enya, feel-good” category. It is synthetic by design but the output of his songs is hardly digitized. The closest artist I would even consider comparing him to is Moby, but even that is a stretch. He has a unique ability to take a harmlessly simple beat and twist it by breathing the surreal life of a city throughout. Blockhead actually finds insult to the mere claims of being a techno artist. In fact, he claims that his roots are in hip hop. At first I was surprised by this notion but the more I grew accustomed to his style the more it seemed to make sense. Like hip hop, his music is very raw and exposed. There's a simple beauty, and an equally harsh reality, to each of his songs.
My personal favorite is "Insomniac Olympics." The song even hosts a fan-submitted "flash music video" of a gunfight gone wrong; the vid really hits the core feeling of the track. Most techno music is distorted; it is meant to immerse you in some robotic future that lies shrouded in fantasy. And while that style of music is great under certain circumstances, it does very little to encourage characterization in the WoD. Blockhead's music does quite the opposite; he puts the listener in the present-day streets, confronting a harsh world of drugs, sex, and sin. This is dark ambience at its best, an easy choice for a soundtrack to Werewolf the Forsaken or any other World of Darkness setting.
"Insomniac Olympics" Music Video, via AlbinoBlackSheep.
Blockhead’s Webpage, via NinjaTunes. Labels: Theme Songs |
Comments on "Music Artist: Blockhead"
Awesome additions recently, Eithan. The blogs, the music, the exp. I'm pleased with it all.
First off, would you recommend Heather Nova? Second, is that her name, or am I a retard?
Second, as soon as I'm not exhausted from jet lag, I'm going to post an entry on my new blog. Which is awesome, again.
Third, are we going to take any more group/solo pictures any time soon? I think we should have a tiny library for each of us.
Fourth, when is our next session again?
-Ben
I posted "second" twice. I am a retard. Yay.
Heather Nova (your spelling is good) is one of my favorite female artists and I recommend her highly. Most of her tunes are love songs but her lyrics are a deeper than the average "I love you" ballad. If your character ever falls in love I would definitely suggest using one of her songs. Even the struggle between you and Sam might be best expressed by such a melody.
I'll bring my camera next session and take more pictures. I haven't decided if we should put pictures on the Healing Scars blog or separate individual pictures on your own blogs. What do you think?
I am free either Friday or Saturday night this weekend to roleplay. I would prefer to play Saturday night because, if we play Friday, I would have to cut it short; I have family stuff real early Sat morning. Hit me back and let me know how your schedule is.
saturday works for me, but i do work saturday night. i might not be off till like 10 and then i have to work all fucking day the next day (10:30-10:30), but i am still game. just let me know what is up.