Battle Hymn of the God-Slayers

Yee, Thomas B.

doi:10.1525/jsmg.2020.1.1.2

Cited by 4 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…(5) Such widely-understood and codified musical signals make these media ideal case studies for expanding the universe of topic. (6) Several ludomusicologists have studied other such salient topics and tropes in video game music, such as soaring (Atkinson 2019), mechanic (Bradford 2020), and god-slaying (Yee 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Common Cold

Lavengood,

Williams

2023

MTO

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This paper models a new approach to theorizing topics via music informatics. Our case study for topic is winter as it appears in video game music. Like opera or oratorio, video game music leaves little ambiguity as to what the music ought to signify. Video games commonly have an icy or snowy area, complete with cold-weather creatures and landscapes as well as new game mechanics and music for the player to encounter. Our dataset has over 160 examples of such music, representing games on all mainstream platforms (Nintendo, PlayStation, computer, etc.) and spanning the years 1987–2020. Each example is tagged with its musical features. We define five core characteristics of the winter topic: heavy reverb, arpeggiated textures, metallic percussion instruments, plucked string instruments, and omission of membranophones. We also situate winter as a topic related to Christmas, ’80s music, and the waltz. Finally, we explore Nintendo’s idiosyncratic approach to winter music. Our study finds that instrumentation—particularly percussion—and audio technology are key considerations in establishing the winter topic in video game music. More broadly, we demonstrate the potential of computational musicology to augment and complement traditional approaches to topic theory, whether in relation to video game music or any other repertoire.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thomas B. Yee (2020) engages in rudimentary corpus analysis to help define the musical features of his god-slaying trope in video game music. His statistics document the prevalence of various topics within his dataset, with the goal of articulating how these topics intersect to form the trope.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Common Cold

Lavengood,

Williams

2023

MTO

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The Queerness of Video Game Music

Summers

2023

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Video game music is a significant site of queerness where normative demands are questioned, suspended or loosened. Games resist hegemonic musical logics, challenge musical value systems and use music to complicate essentialist notions of identity. This Element proposes three areas of queerness, each representing different relationships between 'queer design' and 'queer engagement', ranging fromunintentionally resistive to explicit engagement with identity. First, this Element examines musical structures that provide queer temporal alternatives to normative linear development, and interactive systems that reframe the power relationship between musical material and listener. Second, it considers 'retro' or 'chiptune' timbres that queer notions of technological progress to be improvements, rejecting chrononormativity. Finally, the Element discusses music that queers the self/other binary of identity. Games present ways of listening to, engaging with and understanding music that provide opportunities to challenge inherited assumptions and reductive or monolithic values, practices and identities.

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Mandatory Metal Moments

Rossetti¹

2023

Journal of Sound and Music in Games

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Through a series of case studies, this article presents a framework of common musical tropes originally only found in heavy metal music. The use of aggressive “double-kick” drum grooves, galloping bass lines, harmonized melodies, and overall fast tempi are all common elements of many styles of metal that first emerged in the 1980s. Video games developed alongside this musical genre; action, platforming, and role-playing games not only embraced these distinguishing characteristics of metal music, but these tropes are now expected in games of various genres. In addition, other extra-musical topics associated with heavy metal’s lyrical themes—such as references to the occult and fantasy—are common archetypes used to build the worlds of these video games. Studies have been conducted that examine the cultural similarities between these two cultures, the relationship of music genre with game genre and function, and the use of rock paired with sacred music specifically in battle themes. By analyzing the arrangements, treatment of melodic contours, rhythmic gestures, and harmonic progressions of these games, this article discusses and demonstrates how metal has disseminated into video game culture. There are strong connections between the fast-paced obstacles in Mega Man with the speed of Iron Maiden, the gothic horror stages of Castlevania and Baroque elegance of Yngwie Malmsteen, and how the themes from fantasy literature made their way into video game design and power metal. The worlds of these games are built on their music, but their music is built on a fusion of tropes used in heavy metal culture.

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Battle Hymn of the God-Slayers

Cited by 4 publications

References 14 publications

The Common Cold

The Common Cold

The Queerness of Video Game Music

Mandatory Metal Moments

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