|
Post by chaucerianmyth on Jan 10, 2017 17:22:36 GMT -5
I was curious to see how/which non-DS artists impact the sound of our DS music. It would be really cool to have artists talk about these influences, and maybe even point out on which songs/albums these influences are evident. I think the great thing about DS is that it can be so open and diverse, not what one might expect from such a niche genre. You can hear a myriad of different influences from one album to another, not all of them DS, I'm sure! So let's see them!
|
|
|
Post by nahadoth on Jan 10, 2017 17:33:07 GMT -5
I'm hugely inspired by SNES -era JRPG music, as well as a lot of traditional folk (which I play in a few bands) from Scandinavia, Eastern Europe and the Balkans, as well as some strains of classical music (particularly baroque and late-romantic, as well as some atonal/serial music).
I should say that I love a lot of Neofolk and Neoclassical, but that stuff doesn't influence me as much, except in the commitment to presenting an atmosphere, which is what I think that music is really good at doing.
|
|
|
Post by chaucerianmyth on Jan 10, 2017 17:44:04 GMT -5
I would say that influence in presenting an atmosphere is definitely worth noting. A lot of my influences came through in that way on my debut, more subtly than explicitly. I think your more explicit influences, that of JRPG and European Folk Musics, are definitely interesting, and represent a shift in Dungeon Synth that we've seen in this past few years, one that's more open and diverse, incorporating elements that no longer sound like strictly Darkwave or Dark Ambient albums with medieval themes. I think it's really cool. I think that's also opened me up a lot more to incorporating different influences in my music - Chopin, King Crimson, and John Coltrane, were big influences on my first album. On the album I'm about to release, I've also incorporated some influences by great pianist-composers like George Gershwin and Duke Ellington, among others, without making the album sound like a jazz record, of course. It's interesting to see how far we can stretch the framework while still keeping it uniquely Dungeon Synth. It really does fascinate me, and it's one of things about the music and community that excites me the most. nahadoth , are there any composers in particular that really tickle your fancy? I'd love to get into more of that stuff.
|
|
|
Post by nahadoth on Jan 10, 2017 22:14:50 GMT -5
Some of my favorite early composers to listen to are Bach, (particularly the solo violin music but also a lot of the keyboard music as well), F. Couperin, and Purcell. I'm not always clear where the line is between Early Music and Baroque music, but generally I enjoy things on both sides of the divide, especially where there are Viola De Gambas involved. I could listen to early choral music, both religious or secular, for days, especially the druglike modulations of Gesualdo. Then I kind of phase out until 19th century art song (and some piano music) and people really started to innovate with sound colors and not just slight harmonic variations, like in Schumann and Hugo Wolf's song cycles, and Wagner, Debussy, and Mahler's orchestral music.
Then in the 20th century, I can't get enough of Britten's operas (much more so than most of his other music), which are super romantic but full of poly-tonalities and resonance, and I prefer Berg's more romantic atonality to the relative extremism of Schoenberg. A lot of the really heavy post-war stuff like what makes up the soundtrack of 2001 (as well as imitated in a lot of big scores), like Ligeti and Penderecki is very visceral but for that reason I can only listen sparingly. I actively enjoy minimalism like Steve Reich and Philip Glass to a lesser extent, and I generally do a terrible job of keeping up with modern music, except that I sometimes compose it and have some friends who also do, and I sometimes play their music.
|
|
|
Post by chaucerianmyth on Jan 10, 2017 22:30:21 GMT -5
I definitely feel you on the early vocal music. Plainchant is simple, but in a way, that's really nice because the focus is very much on the melody, with slight harmonic variations, as you earlier stated.
I try hard to keep up with modern music to some extent, and I do alright, but as my life gets busier it just becomes more difficult and it's just much more convenient to listen to music of the past, even the recent past.
I think it's cool that you mentioned Reich as well; I like his work, but am less favorable towards glass, who I like but not as much. I feel like John Cage might be someone you'd enjoy, if you haven't listened already. Often very minimal, and always experimental. I feel like the various works of Peter Brötzmann might interest you, though he is certainly one to be listened to sparingly, or at least that's what I've found. I feel like minimal/experimental music is good for us in doses because it allows us to consume different sorts of sounds, structures, combinations.
|
|
|
Post by andrewwerdna on Jan 11, 2017 6:32:03 GMT -5
Gail Laughton - Harps of the Ancient Temples was a huge influence on my Seven Wonders album. Of course, my music can't hold a candle to something like that, but that sort of fantastical reimagining of the ancient past definitely felt like a model to follow which was very fitting for DS. Also I just love the sound of the harp, and I used it pretty extensively on that album.
|
|
|
Post by chaucerianmyth on Jan 11, 2017 13:27:53 GMT -5
Gail Laughton - Harps of the Ancient Temples was a huge influence on my Seven Wonders album. Of course, my music can't hold a candle to something like that, but that sort of fantastical reimagining of the ancient past definitely felt like a model to follow which was very fitting for DS. Also I just love the sound of the harp, and I used it pretty extensively on that album. Wow, this is really great. I've never listened to this artist before. Now I have to go back and listen to Seven Wonders again with this in mind! Thanks for sharing this great piece!
|
|
|
Post by andrewwerdna on Jan 12, 2017 7:36:18 GMT -5
Just skip my album and listen to Harps of the Ancient Temples, I cannot recommend it enough.
|
|
|
Post by nebulosa on Jan 16, 2017 1:16:10 GMT -5
Personally, my biggest non-dungeon synth influence is the Finnish neo-folk project Nest. I have yet to find any other music that evokes such strong feelings of whimsy and at times, bleakness. www.youtube.com/watch?v=bto658FernU
|
|
|
Post by maximus on Jan 17, 2017 0:28:10 GMT -5
I feel like the various works of Peter Brötzmann might interest you, though he is certainly one to be listened to sparingly, or at least that's what I've found. Do not take this lightly, Brötzmann produces some the most abrasive and uncompromising music I've ever heard.
|
|
|
Post by crystallogic13 on Jan 22, 2017 14:54:41 GMT -5
Andrew, first of all I've listened to your album (7 Wonders..) and it is niiice, teleports you back to that era, love the theme of the album 100% .. But I really would like to say a thanx for posting Laughton's album, first time I see it, thank you a lot for bringing that up!! Always great to get learn music you never knew existed!
p.s. ChaucerianMyth I also loved your album, epic scope, endless respect, it also brings the exact atmosphere you want to evoke even though I haven't learned the thematic background of it(a book I think?).. Great music you too..
|
|
|
Post by chaucerianmyth on Jan 23, 2017 15:50:53 GMT -5
Andrew, first of all I've listened to your album (7 Wonders..) and it is niiice, teleports you back to that era, love the theme of the album 100% .. But I really would like to say a thanx for posting Laughton's album, first time I see it, thank you a lot for bringing that up!! Always great to get learn music you never knew existed! p.s. ChaucerianMyth I also loved your album, epic scope, endless respect, it also brings the exact atmosphere you want to evoke even though I haven't learned the thematic background of it(a book I think?).. Great music you too.. Thank you so much! I'm glad you enjoy it! I have to say, I'm definitely into how positive this community is on the board here. It really makes for some constructive conversation and creates an environment that is very conducive to creating.
|
|
Tyrannus
Verified Account
Knowledge is Night
Posts: 806
|
Post by Tyrannus on Jan 23, 2017 16:22:31 GMT -5
Ambient, dark ambient, and noise music all play a big part in my work as Tyrannus (which will be most likely carried on as the more noise-oriented Einhorn). The aesthetics of raw black metal impact my work as well. I'd say some of my biggest influences outside of the DS scene are Striborg, The Rita, Paysage D'hiver, Reverorum Ib Malacht, and Ain Soph.
|
|
Erang
Verified Account
Posts: 130
|
Post by Erang on Jan 24, 2017 15:05:05 GMT -5
I'm a huge music fan and there are things & artists that I like/love in pretty much any style and genre of music. My range of influence is pretty diverse and goes far beyond music, in fact. But if we keep it strictly related to non-DS music (and others than Black Metal intro/outro, interlude) I can say that I've been inspired by lots of things here and there and, often, the influence is subtle because it is just one element or an atmosphere that I feel in a song and try to translate in my own world... Here are few examples: The Last of the Mohicans soundtrack in "The Way Of The Horse Rider" > youtu.be/p99R2G2QowA?t=446Ulver - not saved in "Hereby Banished" > youtu.be/p99R2G2QowA?t=1425Wardruna in "Im Ajinar Nost Alije (Part I)" > www.youtube.com/watch?v=93awFzIqgZMNest in "Elks And Owls" > erang.bandcamp.com/track/elks-and-owlsPhilip Glass on “Children of the Frozen Forest” > youtu.be/GXAzICk7Gkw?t=1908Ocarina of Time OST in "Flow of Time is Always Cruel" > youtu.be/bWsuQN8fhPE
|
|
|
Post by surlaneige on Jan 25, 2017 17:04:05 GMT -5
I'll listen to anything, but most things i hear do not strike a chord with me, to use a cheap pun. The sort of music i seem to like best is something that has a deep sense of mystery or reverence to it, that goes right into the core of your being, rather than just tickling your ego. As if the act of contemplating nature and history could produce music directly.
Many names are bound to slip my memory, but some i can recall now are: Benjamin Britten in particular his opera Peter Grimes, of which the 'Four Sea Interludes' are quite special. John Tavener wrote some very good spiritual pieces. Synaulia's Music from Ancient Rome, both albums, and Daemonia Nymphe are good too in a different way (these ones i discovered in a roundabout way through Burzum)... The Brian Jones record of the Pipes of Pan by the master musicians of Jajouka was a shock when i first heard it one night by accident. The soundtrack to the anime movie Akira by Geino Yamashirogumi. The Gagaku court music of imperial Japan. A band from Australia called The Necks who make very dense tonal atmospheric 'jazz' which is really nothing like jazz... But the main music that changed my way of thinking way that of Thomas de Hartmann, in collaboration with the Armenian mystic Gurdjieff. The set of pieces are just shatteringly beautiful in many different ways to me, and there are a lot of them and they are all completely suffused with meaning.
Outside of this bunch, Paysage D'hiver and Nortt also make some particularly nice spectral atmospheres on their records.
Hopefully one day i'll be able to share some finished music of my own, and then these influences may become more apparent.
|
|