Music for Cyberpunk 2020/Shadowrun

[Calico_Jack73]

Give me some ideas for a compilation album of music suited to playing in a Cyberpunk 2020 or Shadowrun game. You don't have to mention Billy Idol's Cyberpunk album... that is kind of a no brainer.

 

[Lorthanoth]

Selected excerpts from the Matrix soundtrack and the "Inspired by the Matrix" album. Your tastes will vary.

Bladerunner soundtrack.

A band called Forty Thieves Orkestar - they make a blend of klesmer and electronica.

 

[Herschel]

Queensryche: "Rage For Ordder"

Most anything by KMFDM

 

[Jack of Shadows]

Hmmmm....

Any of the Ghost in the Shell soundtracks
Appleseed soundtrack
Just about anything from Yoko Kanno
Crystal Method's Vegas album

JoS.

 

[RodneyThompson]

A while back a friend of mine, Brian Borgman, put out a soundtrack for Cybernet, the OGL cyberpunk game. It's specifically designed for a cyberpunk setting. Your tastes may vary, of course, but I like it.

The Official Cybernet Soundtrack

 

[Aus_Snow]

Aphex Twin could work well.

Personally, I'd go with tracks sans vocals, or at the most, ones with lyrics in languages you and the players don't understand.

And yes, soundtracks are often a good way to go, be it Ghost in the Shell, Bladerunner, or whatever else.

 

[Kishin]

I used the soundtrack to Deus Ex 2 pretty extensively in my Shadowrun campaign. Also, look for stuff by Vangelis.

Playlist from the final mega-session of my campaign (Most are metal/prog/hard rock)

'Flame to the Moth' by Pain of Salvation
'Goodbye City Life' by Deadsoul Tribe (Main theme of the scenario)
'Between the Gentle Small and Tall' by Green Carnation
'Ash & Debris' by Paradise Lost
'Mind Machine' by Scar Symmetry
'11 Dreams' by Mercenary
'Pain' by Blackfield
'Vengeance is Mine' by Sentenced
'Drip' by F.A.K.E
'The Curtain Fall' by Evergrey
'The Face of God' H.I.M. (For a club live music scene)
'Doesn't Matter Anyway' by Savatage (The ultimate arms dealer song)

 

[reticent]

Nine Inch Nails
Wired All Wrong
Ministry
Bebel Gilberto
Zero 7
Phillip Glass
Johnny Cash
Bad Religion
Air
System of a Down
Gorillaz
Thievery Corporation
Pigface

Also, pretty much anything from the following genres:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trip_hop
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-industrial_(music)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acid_jazz
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronica
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_music

 

[Aus_Snow]

And if you really do want 80s and 90s 'industrial' setups banging on about 'cyberpunk', then KMFDM, FLA, Front 242, and all those guys would be no-brainers too.

By the way, there was a thread full of hundreds or possibly thousands of 'Cyberpunk' bands and artists over at RPGnet, earlier this year IIRC. It went on for many a page.

 

[Protagonist]

For action sequences (and it's almost completly instrumental too) check out Esplendor Geométrico and Sonar.


Sonar:
You can listen to some of their tracks on last.fm, but it's mostly remixes. The originals are a lot better: Sonar – Listen free and discover music at Last.fm
Here's a track on yt: [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKh77hT8o1k]YouTube - Sonar-Tehoma[/ame]

Esplendor Geométrico:
yt: [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Edc15I5oRRo]YouTube - ESPLENDOR GEOMETRICO - MALOS TRATOS[/ame]
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yONfdBnvk54]YouTube - Esplendor Geométrico - El Acero del Partido[/ame]


For slower, more atmospheric sequences I recommend Sunn O))), Electric Wizard, Cheerleade 69 and Esoteric.

Sunn O))):
yt: [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sG97k6DMNVM]YouTube - Sunn O))) - Báthory Erzsébet[/ame]

Electric Wizard:
yt: [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sO7VP34n2Ps]YouTube - Electric Wizard - Funeralopolis[/ame]

Cheerleader 69:
MySpace.com - Cheerleader 69 - - Ambient - www.myspace.com/cheerleader69theband

Esoteric:
yt: [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANry2j1U4C8]YouTube - Esoteric - Circle[/ame]



As a summary: I think old school industrial and rhythmic noise (as opposed to harsh noise) work well for action passages and I like to use drone ( Sunn O))) ), funeral doom (electric wizard, esoteric) or ambient / apocalyptic folk (Cheerleader 69) for ambience.

Be careful when looking for others apocalyptic folk (and neofolk) bands, because a lot of bands from this genre are racist / white power idiots that imo shouldn't be supported at all. (Thisi s why I only mention Cheerleader 69, because they are clearly not revisionists or similar scum)