In a recent interview, the co-composer for Forspoken talked about creating the soundtrack and perfecting the protagonist’s voice for the game. Garry Schyman, who composed the soundtrack for Square Enix’s latest fantasy tale alongside Bear McCreary, elaborated on the decisions and the influences that inspired him to create the fantastical melodies for Forspoken, citing his love for melodies as the cornerstone of his music.
Officially announced back in March 2021, Forspoken had a world of hype and anticipation behind it as players were intrigued by the flashy combat, seamless magic-infused parkour, and stunning visuals of the world of Althia. While the game’s reception has been lukewarm, players and critics have praised certain key features of the game. Forspoken‘s music direction is certainly one of those aspects where the game truly manages to deliver on the promise. As the game centers around a young woman who gets transported from New York City to a world of magic, the music in Forspoken also matches the tone in tandem.
RELATED: Forspoken Is Getting Review Bombed
In a recent interview with Eurogamer, Garry Schyman explained in detail, the process of creating Forspoken‘s soundtrack and how he visualizes the music in video games. Schyman explains how the entertainment industry as a whole is generally following the trend of using ambient soundtracks as scores. He goes on to clarify that Luminous Productions wanted to deviate from the trend and go for traditional fantasy scores but allowed the composers to influence the music as they saw fit. Schyman talks about how he wanted a sense of mystery to permeate the music during action and combat. He focuses on the themes of Frey and Cipal, The Last Bastion. Cipal’s theme is very traditionally fantastical and mystical, featuring a lot of long musical statements accompanied by harps.
Garry Schyman speaks enthusiastically about Frey’s theme. Frey is a New Yorker who gets transported to a world of magic and has to make every effort to return home to her time and space, and her theme reflects her struggle. Schyman talks about experimenting with hip-hop beats and traditional orchestral scores to match the journey of the protagonist. He goes on to elaborate on how the vocalist India Carney, through her singing became a part of Frey’s voice just as much as Ella Balinsky. According to Schyman, both he and McCreary felt that India’s vocals were perfect for Frey, and it was almost intuitive to let her musical influences flow through the music.
Music in video games has become almost as important as narrative and gameplay. It is quite satisfying to hear a composer speak so passionately about their work, considering the dire situations Mick Gordon went through. With Forspoken‘s ending teasing a potential sequel and a DLC on the horizon, fans can only hope that both Garry Schyman and Bear McCreary can return to the franchise and bless fans with their stellar work.
Forspoken is now available for PC and PS5.
More: Forspoken: What Caused the War Between Rheddig and Athia
LABEL PROFILE
Dragon’s Eye Recordings Cuts a Unique Path Through Experimental Music
By
Ted Davis
·
February 06, 2023
Take a casual scroll through the Bandcamp label page for Dragon’s Eye Recordings, and things look mostly cohesive. United by neat, photo-centric covers, the music that the label has released over the course of the last 18 years tends to fall under the larger ambient umbrella. But there is one outlier: A 1989 medley from an artist named George Winston called “Bread Baker’s Stomp.” Held up alongside so many avant-garde albums, its inclusion might seem like a mistake—maybe a stray upload that somehow ended up pinned to the wrong label profile. But lo and behold, that oddity is, indeed, supposed to be there.
Since 2005, Dragon’s Eye has been helmed by Yann Novak. But the label was actually founded by his father Paul—a bohemian baker who moonlighted as a radio DJ—in ‘80s Madison, Wisconsin as a vehicle for releasing the aforementioned endeavor. Fast forward 26 years, and the younger Novak is following in his father’s footsteps. After cutting his teeth partying in the ‘90s Midwest rave scene, he felt inspired to pursue a career as a musician as his tastes slowly began skewing more experimental. When Novak needed a home for a dance piece he’d scored for a friend, he realized that he had no strong connections in the music world—so he decided that it would be fun to resurrect his father’s old passion project. Slowly but surely, his work on this new iteration of Dragon’s Eye led to a treasure trove of groundbreaking music from artists all over the world.
After Novak relocated from Seattle to Los Angeles near the end of 2008, he hit the ground running. He found himself in a crew of talented left-field musicians that was even more robust than the one he had been able to access in the Pacific Northwest. His sunny homebase proved rejuvenating for him—the opposite of the demoralizing slog so many people associate with life as a creative in the Southern California metropolis.
In 2018, Novak implemented a policy to only accept demos from under-represented voices. The releases that have followed have all been from LGBTQ+, female/non-binary, disabled, and/or neurodivergent artists. “The big change was that I really tried to stop curating the aesthetics of the label,” he says. “I felt like, in order to uplift marginalized voices, I also needed to trust that they knew better than I did what was relevant in their community.” As a result, the sonics of the label have spun out in a ton of exciting directions.
Novak actively invites submissions from any musician who meets his criteria, and he counts it as a win when a recording project he’s backed goes on to a bigger label, seeing himself as a mentor for artists who want to reach the next level in their careers. The fruit of Novak’s years of hard work has resulted in a nurturing space for musicians looking to find their footing in a challenging corner of the industry. In celebration of the label, here are just a few highlights from the Dragon’s Eye catalog to date.
Various Artists Paper: Dragon’s Eye First Anniversary
Dragon’s Eye has released a dozen anniversary compilations, which began tapering off when Novak realized that they were a ton of work to put together and had a tendency to stall his momentum with other albums. Nonetheless, when surveying the label’s catalog, it makes sense to start with the 2006 collection Paper, a six-track record put together at the end of the imprint’s first year. “We did it alongside two nights of performances at a gallery called Gallery 1412 in Seattle,” Novak says. “[The artists on] Paper was the label’s roster at the time.” The compilation features contributions from Son Of Rose, Wyndel Hunt, Tyler Potts, Heavy Lids, Ear Venom, and Novak himself. Oblique and airy, it offers proof that, while countless musical trends have come and gone, Dragon’s Eye has stayed true to its roots.
Pinkcourtesyphone A Ravishment of Mirror
Pinkcourtesyphone is a microsound project from Los Angeles neomodernist innovator/composer/Dublab DJ Richard Chartier. His album A Ravishment Of Mirror came out in 2014, when Dragon’s Eye was making its brief second attempt at trying to release CDs. Novak took a step back from the label in 2013, but returned motivated at the start of the following year, funding four releases via Kickstarter. This is one of them. Chartier had just launched this now-revered alias and moved to L.A., where he and Novak ended up neighbors. Drawing from queer icons and Hollywood’s twinkling glamour, A Ravishment Of Mirror is a borderline-Lynchian auditory homage to the sprawl—a dubby, captivating slice of unearthly ambience.
Lawrence English + Stephen Vitiello Fable
Fable is another album that emerged during Dragon’s Eye’s Kickstarter era. It’s a collaboration between acclaimed sound experimenter/Room40-founder Lawrence English and multidisciplinary punk guitarist/visual artist Stephen Vitiello—the second record they ever made together. “I’ve known Lawrence for 10 or 12 years now,” Novak says. “He stays with us every time he’s in L.A., and if you’ve ever bought anything from Room40 in the last three years, I’ve probably shipped it to you.” Across seven tracks, English and Vitiello weave together field recordings, modular synthesis, and acoustic-electric instrumentation, creating haunting mythologies in the process. Like most music that English leaves his mark on, there are some pretty ghostly, unsettling moments here. But in spite of the strange discomfort the duo provoke on Fable, it still lends itself well to deep listening.
Jake Muir Acclimation
Jake Muir is an artist from L.A.’s San Fernando Valley who now lives in Berlin. He developed a special relationship with sound at a young age, largely as a byproduct of his sunny, naturalistic surroundings. Dragon’s Eye released Acclimation in 2017, when Muir was based in Seattle. The album came about after Muir was invited to do a set at the Georgetown Steam Plant, a historic industrial site that used to power streetcars. The impact of that setting—and the Washington city’s drab environment in general—can be felt in the album’s creaky, reverbed-out tonalities. The two 20-minute musique concrète arrangements are gargantuan and bizarre, a reminder of Muir’s status as an artist who paved the way for current peers like Davis Galvin and KMRU.
Alejandro Morse Aftermath
Novak’s earliest design inspiration came in the form of the Akira comics, which became a major touchstone for the album art he now uses. “When I started the label, I knew that I wanted to do something like that,” Novak says. Even with this in mind, Aftermath by Alejando Morse—aka León, Mexico musician Edgar Medina—is especially eye-catching. From the lonesome sunset on the cover to the tracks titled after artificial lakes, pollution, and smog, the album finds beauty in the brutalism of climate change. The five minimal cuts are disconcerting examples of the role societal ugliness can play in drone music.
Ian Hawgood Memory and Motion
The Dragon’s Eye universe is home to a number of longform pieces. “Pre-streaming, it was much trendier to do these long compositions,” Novak says. “But with the digital format, I like to have people push the limits of it because every other medium has been about the time constraints of the medium. With digital, it’s open to whatever you want to do.” One project in this vein that stands out is Memory and Motion by Ian Hawgood. Clocking in around 28 minutes, the 2021 release is an unearthed live performance from a messy London show that Novak organized back in 2010. Hawgood had arrived at the set hot on the heels of a honeymoon in Indonesia, and this track is influenced by the frantic, thrilling energy of global travel. Centered on gongs and a Max/MSP patch, it’s tastefully subdued and withdrawn.
Various Artists Touch
Touch is one of the most exciting compilations that Dragon’s Eye has ever released, with a tracklisting that boasts contributions from underground favorites like Alexandra Spence, Viv Corringham, and KMRU. It came to life remotely, spurred on by a yearning for physical contact that was robbed by pandemic isolation. “That is all the work of Tomoko Hojo, whose piece ‘fall asleep’ appears on the album,” Novak explains. “She actually created that compilation herself and brought it to me. I was, like, ‘I love all these artists. Of course I’m gonna say “yes” to releasing it.’ We did it in, like, two months.” Novak’s contributions mostly came in the form of communication support, shifting his schedule to help expedite the record, and enhancing the striking, resplendent photograph that adorns the cover. It highlights what a quietly supportive resource he is for his community.
Braulio Lam Apertura
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Braulio Lam’s Apertura is a recent Dragon’s Eye standout. Built around gorgeous flutters and unidentifiable burbles, the combination of time-stretched guitars and found sound samples make Apetura play like a Fennesz record stripped of the Austrian glitch artist’s trademark distortion. “I don’t know how someone can be as prolific as Bruno,” Novak says, “because he’s been putting out a lot of stuff, and everything is as good as this record.”
Tracking the weather seems to be a hobby for so many of us. I don’t know why but I love knowing what the weather is at MY home. I’m a bit of a weather geek. So many of us are. If you’re a fellow weather nerd then the Ambient Weather WS-2902 Home Weather Station is designed for you! I took it for a test at home.
There are two main pieces to the home weather station, the outside weather station and the inside wireless screen that shows you the stats from the weather station. We’ll start outside. The unit itself is pretty easy to put together after pulling it out of the box. The complication will be deciding on a good spot to mount it and pulling out the drill and screws. I picked a spot on my back fence although it may eventually make its way up to my roof. The company has guidelines for best placement to get the most accurate readings. You have sensors galore in the weather station including temperature, wind speed, humidity, wind direction, rainfall, UV levels, solar radiation, barometric pressure, dew point, heat index, wind chill and others.
The unit itself is a pretty decent size but I wouldn’t say it’s huge. You might want to check with your neighbors before you mount it on a fence.
Inside your home you’ll connect the wireless screen. This communicates wirelessly with the weather station outside so you can quickly see all of the info about the weather. It’s pretty self explanatory and an easy way to check on the current conditions quickly.
The techie fun comes when you connect this screen to your WIFI network and the Ambient Weather online service. You can check out the current stats and history from your weather station in the mobile app. You can also look at other weather stations anywhere in the country on their website ambientweather.net
The app is great! It gives you a quick simple look at the current states but also lets you dive deeper into your stats if you prefer. I really like how Ambient Weather does a good job of making this approachable for those of us “non-meteorologists” but also nerdy enough for people who want more.
Overall
This is a great way for many of us weather nerds to track the weather in our own backyard. While the WIFI setup could be a little easier, setting up the weather center itself was very easy. The screen inside your home gives you a great quick glance at the conditions while the Ambient Weather app and website lets you dive deeper into your weather stats.
I’m giving the WS-2902 Home Weather Station a 4 out of 5 geek rating!
The Ambient Weather WS-2902 Home Weather station is available directly from the AmbientWeather.com site for $190.
More than the sum of its parts, and more than just a simple product, SPACE by CODA combines advanced AV technology with art to create a seamless audio-visual experience that is scalable and adaptable to any environment – and where the mechanics of what is a concert-grade audio experience are rendered completely invisible. Indeed, SPACE by CODA allows you to create your environment to be anything you like, or integrates seamlessly into existing environments – cultural spaces, high-end retail, education, high-end residential, hospitality, clubs… the list is endless.
“Conventional AV solutions are often a compromise between technical requirements and visual aesthetics,” explained CODA founder and MD, Svetly Alexandrov. “High quality AV solutions usually include projector and/or LED screens, multiple loudspeakers, mounting accessories, and a lot of cables as well as acoustic absorbers and diffusors. This is usually at odds with the vision of the architect and/or interior designer who don’t want loudspeakers, acoustic elements, cabling and other technology cluttering up their interior design. SPACE by CODA resolves all these problems.”
[Projection Screen Installation: What To Know from Industry Experts] (opens in new tab)
So, what exactly is SPACE?
(Image credit: CODA Audio)
SPACE by CODA integrates high-end, immersive 3D audio, a 4K projector screen, ambient lighting and advanced acoustical treatment with the art or projection of your choice into a united system solution to transform spaces with audio. The result is the SPACE Panel.
At just 70mm deep, SPACE Panels can offer sound quality and performance surpassing that of conventionally designed (cabinet) loudspeakers. This driver-equipped canvas can transform spaces to feature invisible audio, enabling high quality, full-range sound in previously limitative environments. The entire sonic spectrum is covered with power and quality; unique ‘instafit’ magnetic waveguides native to the SPACE audio modules facilitate production of directable sound with capability for immersive audio—all from within the panel.
Sound diffusors and acoustic treatments may be interleaved between loudspeaker modules for better control over sound reverberation in the room. Optional sensor-controlled sub-bass modules can be deployed to deliver even lower frequencies to concert sound proportions. Matching CODA LINUS DSP amplifiers complete the package. The addition of the SPACE Hub processor opens up the possibility for true 3D immersive audio.
[New Products, Updates, and News at AV Network ISE 2023 Central] (opens in new tab)
The loudspeaker modules and diffusor/acoustic panels are arranged and connected like building blocks—and then completely hidden behind an acoustically transparent 4K projector screen—or a SPACE Art high-resolution digital canvas print.
SPACE Panels can be arranged in any ratio, size, or custom orientation to create a modern, borderless panel that will enhance any environment. They can even be mounted on the ceiling.
Full LED surround lighting options are available in warm white or RGB with DMX control.
(Image credit: CODA Audio)
Inside the Frame
The driving force behind SPACE by CODA are the three ultra-flat immersive loudspeaker modules M1, M2, and M4 which allow each screen to be built in 600mm increments.
M1–600x600x70mm—up to 10m distance
M2–1200x600x70mm /Double size, Double SPL (+6dB)—up to 18m distance
M4–1200x1200x70mm /4xSize, 4xSPL (+12dB)—up to 25m distance
All loudspeaker modules include 10i-nch passive radiators for LF, 6.5-inch MF drivers and 1.75-inch HF drivers with ‘instafit’ interchangeable waveguides for optimum directivity control. Each module achieves a frequency response range from 45Hz to 21KHz, with a maximum SPL of 121dB (A weighted) for the M1 module and up to 137dB SPL (A weighted) for the M4. The MF/HF sections are rotatable; this enables both horizontal and vertical plane steering, optimising SPACE for the desired coverage area. As with all CODA loudspeaker systems, these loudspeaker modules are phase linear enabling pristine audio delivery, whether for simple stereo or highly complex 3D immersive systems.
[SCN Top 50 Systems Integrators 2022] (opens in new tab)
Identically standardized Absorber Modules (AB1, AB2, and AB4) have been designed to interleave perfectly between loudspeaker modules in a SPACE Panel or function as standalone SPACE Art, ensuring balanced and non-saturating system configurations can be achieved in any venue, from home cinemas to conference halls and houses of worship.
Diffusor panels are also available within SPACE Panels for reducing the build-up of standing waves. The single format D1 size is most handy in applications where room echoes require sympathetic attenuation with minimal compromise on sound energy. Whilst the AB panels will deaden the sound of a room, D panels will provide a livelier yet still controlled sound.
“SPACE by CODA is transformative technology at every level,” said global marketing and sales director, David Webster. “It transforms the way we perceive audio, and it transforms and elevates spaces, both visually and aurally. It’s fully scalable and totally customisable. The only limit is your imagination.”
It’s the biggest night in music, with stars from all over the world vying for a prestigious Grammy award to boost their reputation and musical credentials.
Hosted by former host of The Daily Show, Trevor Noah, for the third time on the trot, Sunday’s ceremony will take place at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.
So, who will be the big winner of the night? How will our British stars fare? And what kind of buzz can we expect around the show? Here’s what to look out for at the 65th annual Grammy Awards.
Beyonce making history
Leading the nominations, Beyonce is on the cusp of becoming the most decorated artist in Grammy history.
Already the show’s most awarded woman with 28 wins, if she bags just four of the nine categories she’s nominated in, she’ll break the late Hungarian-British conductor Georg Solti’s record of 31 Grammys.
Beyonce’s is already tied with husband Jay-Z for the title of most nominated artist of all time.
Queen Bey‘s game has been strong leading up to the awards, performing her first live gig in four years in Dubai and a two-night event in Los Angeles last month, all promoting her seventh album – Renaissance – which is up for album of the year.
Beyonce will also come up against Adele in the category again this year, with the British star using her acceptance speech for her 2017 album of the year win, to heap praise on Beyonce.
Many – including Adele herself – said the US artist should have taken the prize for her surprise album Lemonade – loved by fans and critics alike. This year’s rematch is likely to make good viewing, as well as fostering plenty of headlines.
As well as album of the year for Renaissance, Beyoncé’s also up for record of the year, song of the year, and best dance/electronic recording for Break My Soul, best dance/electronic music album, best R&B performance for Virgo’s Groove, best traditional R&B performance for Plastic Off The Sofa, best R&B song for Cuff It, and best song written for visual media for Be Alive (from King Richard).
British stars Harry Styles and Adele are among the frontrunners for the awards and shortlisted against Beyonce in three of the ceremony’s biggest prizes – album of the year (see above), song of the year, and record of the year.
After a spell away from the spotlight, Adele burst back onto the scene in 2021 with her fourth album 30, topping both the UK and US charts.
The 41-year-old powerhouse is also nominated for best pop solo performance for break-up ballad Easy On Me, best pop vocal album, best music video, and best music film, for Adele: One Night Only – which marked the singer’s comeback with an interview by Oprah Winfrey and a concert performance at the Griffith Observatory.
Styles has six Grammy nominations, following a standout year which saw him topping the charts with his third album Harry’s House and shortlisted for the prestigious Mercury Prize award.
In addition to the three big prizes of the night, Styles is also up for best pop solo performance, best pop vocal album and best music video. His pop rock fan pleaser As It Was is tipped to nab at least one prize.
Upcoming British indie rock duo Wet Leg – who count Iggy Pop and Barack Obama among their fans – also scored three nominations, including prestigious, best new artist.
Veteran rock band Coldplay are up for three awards, album of the year, best pop vocal album and best pop duo / group performance.
Kendrick Lamar taking centre stage
Rapper Kendrick Lamar is the second front-runner in the nominations stakes after Beyonce, up for eight awards.
The 35-year-old will come up against heavyweights Beyonce, Styles, Adele and Lizzo in the album of the year, song of the year, and record of the year categories.
Headlining at Glastonbury last year, he earned rave reviews and was labelled one of the most gifted rappers of his generation.
But while he has 14 Grammy wins to his name, he’s been snubbed for album of the year three times. He’ll be hoping his fifth album could break the pattern, but he’s clearly got stiff competition – particularly in the form of Grammy Queen Beyoncé.
Likely to win best rap performance for The Heart Part 5 (he’s racked up five wins in this category over the last eight years), Lamar’s also up for best melodic rap performance for Die Hard, best rap song, best rap album for Mr Morale & The Big Steppers and best music video.
Big name presenters and live performances
As well as some of the biggest stars of the music world, there’s also a diverse line-up of famous faces dishing out the awards.
James Corden, Cardi B and US first lady Jill Biden are among the presenters, with comedian Trevor Noah on hosting duties for the star-studded night.
Hollywood stars Viola Davis, Dwayne Johnson and Billy Crystal will also present awards as well as five-time Grammy winner Shania Twain and three-time winner Olivia Rodrigo.
Davis is also nominated in the best audiobook, narration, and storytelling recording category for her recent memoir Finding Me, while Crystal is among the best musical theatre album nominees alongside the cast of the stage musical Mr Saturday Night.
Confirmed live performances on the night include Harry Styles, Lizzo, Sam Smith and Kim Petras, Bad Bunny, Mary J Blige, Brandi Carlile, Luke Combs and Steve Lacy.
There will also be a special celebration of the 50th anniversary of hip-hop’s beginnings featuring some of the genres biggest names and co-curated by Roots musician Questlove.
New categories
This year, in a bid to branch out, the Grammys have introduced five new categories – taking prizes given out on the night to a whopping 91.
Songwriters will get their own standalone category – songwriter of the year – and alternative and Americana music will also be celebrated with two new awards.
Post-pandemic, with the video game market booming and forecast to be worth $219bn (£180bn) by 2024, a brand-new category has been introduced to reflect the success of gaming and gaming-related music – best score soundtrack for video games and other interactive media.
And songs that do good will get a nod in the new special merit award – best song for social change – based on lyrical content that addresses a timely social issue.
Meanwhile best new age album has been expanded to best new age, ambient or chant, and the classical and musical theatre fields have also been opened up to make more musical creatives eligible to win a Grammy.
Main category nominees:
Album Of The Year
Voyage – ABBA
30 – Adele
Un Verano Sin Ti – Bad Bunny
Renaissance – Beyonce
Good Morning Gorgeous (Deluxe) – Mary J Blige
In These Silent Days – Brandi Carlile
Music of the Spheres – Coldplay
Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers – Kendrick Lamar
Special – Lizzo
Harry’s House – Harry Styles
Record Of The Year
Don’t Shut Me Down – ABBA
Easy on Me – Adele
Break My Soul – Beyoncé
Good Morning Gorgeous – Mary J. Blige
You and Me On The Rock – Brandi Carlile featuring Lucius
Woman – Doja Cat
Bad Habit – Steve Lacy
The Heart Part 5 – Kendrick Lamar
About Damn Time – Lizzo
As It Was – Harry Styles
Song Of The Year (songwriter’s award)
abcdefu – Sara Davis, GAYLE and Dave Pittenger
About Damn Time – Lizzo, Eric Frederic, Blake Slatkin and Theron Makiel Thomas
All Too Well (10 Minute Version – The Short Film) – Liz Rose and Taylor Swift
As It Was – Tyler Johnson, Kid Harpoon and Harry Styles
Bad Habit – Matthew Castellanos, Brittany Foushee, Diana Gordon, John Carroll Kirby and Steve Lacy
Break My Soul – Beyonce, S Carter, Terius The Dream Gesteelde-Diamant and Christopher A Stewart
Easy On Me – Adele Adkins and Greg Kurstin
God Did – Tarik Azzouz, E Blackmon, Khaled Khaled, F LeBlanc, Jay-Z, John Stephens, Dwayne Carter, William Roberts and Nicholas Warwar
The Heart Part 5 – Jake Kosich, Johnny Kosich, Kendrick Lamar and Matt Schaeffer
For those times when you’d rather not get sucked down another internet rabbit hole when you really just wanted the weather, an ambient display can be great. [AlexanderK106] built a simple ambient display to know the probability the Northern Lights would visit his town.
Starting with a NodeMCU featuring the ESP8266, [AlexanderK106] walks us through a beginner-friendly tutorial on how to do everything from configure the Arduino IDE, the basics of using a breadboard. finding a data source and parsing it, and finally sticking everything into an enclosure.
The 7-segment display is taped and set into the back of the 1/4″ pine with enough brightness to shine through the additional layer of veneer on top. The display is set to show one digit and then the next before a three second repeat. A second display would probably make this easier to use day-to-day, but we appreciate him keeping it simple for this tutorial.
Looking for more ambient displays? Checkout the Tempescope or this clock that lets you feel the temperature outside!
Despite the way things are, music was not meant to be the background to chores. The art form evolved as a way of communication that demanded attention and absorption from the listener. In no genre of the art is this more prevalent than in ambient music. The quirkily named Mystery of the Bluebon by Anand Iyer under the moniker Opsyllate offers a meditative escape from the heavy percussive rhythms into something more reflective.
A student of the Berklee College of Music, Iyer picked up the guitar in college. “I was into hardcore thrash metal,” says the composer who was guitarist for several bands. But slowly the drive to find something different drew him to the perspective of exploring ambient sounds. “My work as a music producer requires me to constantly listen to all kinds of music. The genre of psychill and ambient music just felt calming. After all, you cannot listen to thrash metal for hours on end,” he says. It was in college that he also discovered the genre of psychill. “I started listening to composers and producers like Simon Posford,” the composer recalls.
Psychill is the latest nomenclature to enter the psychedelic music genre. “From its start, psychill has always been associated with world music,” Iyer shares, adding that the genre has seen many in Europe and the United States attempt fusion-based progressions with Indian rhythms. “But there are very few in India trying it,” he notes.
Mystery of the Bluebon is a gripping listen. Made of seven tracks, the album grows on the listener with its interpretative time changes, movement and mix of Indian, Western and even African rhythms. Songs like Darase bin lage and Psynapse stand out; even tracks such as Deep dub, Attune to the moon and hoppity capture the feel with their rhythmic shifts without being too indulgent.
A unique point that stands out is the inventive use of classical Hindustani and Carnatic vocals and sounds in the album. Iyer grew up around traditional Indian music with his uncle being a Carnatic violinist. “Even my wife is a Carnatic vocalist. So, it is natural for me to choose these styles into the mix,” he notes.
Despite the growing pressures of balancing work as a commercial producer and engineering tracks for games, Iyer plans to push his Opsyllate project further. “The idea is to keep making a song every 15 days or a month. It should help me get another album ready soon,” he asserts. The next work, he promises, will see him venture further into the Indian heartland with music from different states in the country finding their way into the mix. It looks like there is music brewing in the atmosphere.
Many people associate sleep music with slower, low-tempo songs, but a new study suggests that upbeat pop songs also work well for some.
Experts say familiar music can help ease anxiety and distract people from their thoughts.
Incorporating music into a consistent bedtime routine can also be a good way to improve sleep hygiene.
When thinking about what kind of music might help you enter a deep, restful slumber, there’s a good chance soft, ambient, instrumental music might come to mind—and for good reason.
Previous research suggests that slower, low-tempo music with non-danceable rhythms is most likely to aid with sleep, but a new study offers a different perspective. The study, conducted by researchers at Aarhus University in Denmark, found that more upbeat, catchy pop songs are often featured on playlists that people use to help them fall asleep at night.
The researchers analyzed a total of 225,626 songs from 985 playlists on Spotify that are associated with sleep before separating the tracks into six distinct subcategories.
Three of the subcategories align with the typical characteristics of sleep music: slow, low-tempo, acoustic instruments, no lyrics, etc. The other three subcategories, however, feature music that is faster and higher-energy, including pop songs such as “Dynamite” by BTS—which appeared on the sleep playlists 245 times, the most of any song—and “lovely” by Billie Eilish and Khalid.
“It was surprising to see the degree of variation within the music that people use for sleep,” Kira Vibe Jespersen, PhD, a co-author of the study, told Verywell. “Based on previous studies, we were expecting the music to be from many different genres, but I had not anticipated that much variation in the music characteristics.”
How Can Music Help You Fall Asleep?
According to Michael K. Scullin, PhD, an associate professor of psychology and neuroscience at Baylor University, one of the main reasons music might help someone fall asleep is fairly simple: it can help you relax.
“Music listening could serve as a distraction from internal thoughts and ruminations,” Scullin said. “[It can] fill your head with tunes rather than your worries. Some people also live with roommates or in noisy environments, and playing music could help to mask other noises that would keep someone awake.”
Tana Bao, FNP-BC, an expert in sleep medicine, told Verywell that music is also known to improve anxiety, which greatly impacts sleep.
One 2016 study found that music helped reduce stress and anxiety, and yielded better sleep quality for sleep-disturbed pregnant women. And a 2022 meta-analysis of 21 controlled studies showed that music listening had a significant effect on alleviating anxiety.
“People naturally feel happier when listening to music they enjoy, and these positive feelings subsequently set the stage for a better night’s sleep,” Bao said.
From a sleep hygiene perspective, it’s well established that maintaining a consistent bedtime routine is extremely important, she added, and incorporating music into said routine might help someone sustain their nightly regimen.
Why Does Pop Music Work Better for Some People?
According to the study, while some may argue that music with high energy and danceability would be counterproductive for relaxation and sleep, research shows that the brain is better able to relax when it can predict what’s coming. If someone has heard a song repeatedly, as many people do with pop songs, listening to the track requires minimal focus and energy from the brain.
And if a song is very repetitive, as pop songs tend to be, it is predictable by nature and quickly becomes familiar, which could also facilitate relaxation, the study explains.
“If we think about music helping sleep because it distracts one from internal worries, masks outside noises, or is otherwise a comforting part of the bedtime routine, then it makes sense that one would listen to familiar music at bedtime,” Scullin said.
And, according to Bao, it might also simply come down to personal preference. The kind of music that might relax someone likely has a lot to do with whatever kind of music they genuinely enjoy listening to, she said.
Perhaps this is why studies that have tried to pin down the most effective genre for sleep have resulted in inconsistent findings: An Australian survey found that classical music was the most frequent genre mentioned as a sleep aid, while this new study found pop, ambient, and lo-fi to be the most popular among sleepers—with classical music ranking as the 7th on the list.
But if you’re experiencing insomnia, Scullin said listening to music shouldn’t necessarily be the first trick you try. Instead, it’s best to give stimulus control practices a shot.
“Put simply, only use the bed for sleep,” he said. “Any type of activity that is exciting, stressful, or otherwise counter to drowsiness should be kept to a different room. Smartphones and other technologies are great tools and sources of entertainment, but if you’re having difficulty sleeping, it’s best to keep them out of the bedroom.”
If that doesn’t work, however, you could always try incorporating music you enjoy into a consistent nightly routine.
“Optimizing a sleep routine to help promote a routine at bedtime can, for many, likely be improved by adding music guided by personal preference into the mix,” Bao said.
What This Means For You
If you’re having trouble sleeping at night, you should first try reserving your bed solely for sleep and removing all devices from your room. If that doesn’t work, you could try incorporating familiar music that you enjoy—regardless of genre—into a consistent bedtime routine.
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By Mira Miller
Mira Miller is a freelance writer specializing in mental health, women’s health, and culture.
Singer-songwriter, composer, and producer Autumn Luz has spent much of her life longing for the opportunity to pursue music in a serious way. As a child, she begged for piano lessons, but her family couldn’t afford them. During arts high school and college, she taught herself piano on gorgeous, in-tune Steinway pianos she found hidden in practice rooms.
Autumn has been a welfare kid, a prep school kid, a University of Chicago dropout, a complex trauma survivor, a ballet director, an MBA grad, and a data tech leader, all while managing a genetic medical condition. Today, she is a focused artist with a well-developed signature aesthetic that embraces hues of blues, jazz, and alt-rock. Her songs glower with the passion of working through inner conflicts and contradictions, and the search for truths and wholeness. “What attracts me in music is raw authenticity. I am not afraid to explore dark places. That’s the only thing I hope to follow: the courage to be passionately authentic,” she says. With her on these revealing musical explorations are genre-busting multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and arranger Samwe, and composer, pianist, and guitarist Sarun Charumilind.
Today Glide is excited to premiere Autumn’s new single “Speed,” which explodes with a sense of pent-up urgency that recalls the hard-hitting 90s alt-rock of acts like Veruca Salt and Tracy Bonham but with Autumn’s distinctly enchanting vocals coming from and center. The lyrics, which touch on her daily contradictions, lend themselves to the pleasing strangeness of the tune and its veering tempos. Musically, the tune finds Autumn and her backing band playing with dark pop and ominous rock to make for something that pulls the listener into its orbit.
Autumn describes the inspiration behind the song:
“Speed” is a perfect encapsulation of the push and pull of my drive against the limits of reality, and how that constantly trips me up. Even producing this song was two steps forward, one step back, over and over and over again. The result was a conglomeration of fragments, pieced together to create a comforting, vintage-alt-rock-influenced nostalgia for the beauty that comes with absurd contradictions. My personal anthem.
Many fans and gamers have enjoyed the “Creating Games” series by Masahiro Sakurai for various reasons. One of them is that you never really know what he will talk about until the next video of his releases. An excellent example of this dropped with his newest video on his YouTube channel. The topic was about game music, and Sakurai immediately noted how many gamers talked to him about how the music from the old-school days was more memorable than the music tracks of the modern day. But is this true? Or are our nostalgia blinders hindering us from seeing what’s before us?
To test this theory, Sakurai took some of the chiptune-style music from the past and put it into modern titles. As he noted, “it’s a bit loud!” He then explained that the biggest reason for the classic style of music from the early generations of consoles was the technology they had available to them, specifically, the visual technology. When they only could make 8-bit or 16-bit graphics, they had to compensate for what you were sometimes not seeing by having a soundtrack that could whisk you away. Given the love for many iconic video game soundtracks from those periods, we say they succeeded.
However, as the graphics got better and they could relay certain visuals and information in the world, game designers knew that the sound design had to match it. In this case, Sakurai was referring to the world’s ambient noise and how gamers inherently wanted to hear that as they traveled through things. Think about racing titles. Previously, you could hear some of the noises from the car. But in modern times, you can hear everything happening with the car.
Or if you’re in an open world, you can hear the sounds of nature or the city you’re in. As for the claim that modern music isn’t as good as the chiptune tracks of the past, that’s all about taste. There are plenty of singular games or franchises in modern times that are known for their music. For example, Persona 5 Royal is beloved for its tracks, and the Halo franchise is revered for using choir-style tracks to give the title a special sound. More examples exist if you give yourself a chance to find them.
So as Masahiro Sakurai would say, things change, and sometimes you need to make things sound better versus making them sound catchy. You can watch the full video below.
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![Game Music and Ambient Sounds [Audio]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/t_tRnBj9tqc/hqdefault.jpg)