goatwolf
Peasant
pennsylvanian hunger
Posts: 14
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Post by goatwolf on Apr 26, 2017 10:15:52 GMT -5
"I've heard from a handful of people that they came to DS from an admiration of VGM" And indeed, I've actually brought a couple of friends who otherwise don't really listen to black metal to appreciate dungeon synth by drawing parallels to video game music. I've described it as more or less "the type of music you'd expect to hear crawling a dungeon in an RPG game." They haven't gotten as far as immersing themselves in the scene and exploring new music, but they do appreciate the aesthetics, and I've gotten requests to "put on some dungeon synth" when the atmosphere calls for it. Having grown up with video games, VGM certainly has a fair share in influencing my musical tastes, and indeed I enjoy stuff like chiptune which calls upon that background. I think really "synthy" DS like early Lord Lovidicus really scratches that particular itch quite well.
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Post by thekeeper on Apr 26, 2017 10:45:34 GMT -5
"I've heard from a handful of people that they came to DS from an admiration of VGM" And indeed, I've actually brought a couple of friends who otherwise don't really listen to black metal to appreciate dungeon synth by drawing parallels to video game music. I've described it as more or less "the type of music you'd expect to hear crawling a dungeon in an RPG game." They haven't gotten as far as immersing themselves in the scene and exploring new music, but they do appreciate the aesthetics, and I've gotten requests to "put on some dungeon synth" when the atmosphere calls for it. Having grown up with video games, VGM certainly has a fair share in influencing my musical tastes, and indeed I enjoy stuff like chiptune which calls upon that background. I think really "synthy" DS like early Lord Lovidicus really scratches that particular itch quite well. Definitely. I love his whole catalog but his early stuff like The Forge's Fire really hit's that crude rpg feel. If for some reason you have not gotten into Abandoned Places yet, definitely dive into his work. He uses FM synthesis stuff exclusively due its usage in old CRPG soundtracks. Really bizarre deep dungeon music.
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olofdigre
Knight
digre.bandcamp.com
Posts: 376
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Post by olofdigre on Apr 26, 2017 13:17:07 GMT -5
I knew about mortiis in the 90s and found out that it was called Dungeon Synth by reading archaic triad. Then I used youtube before I found bandcamp..
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Post by sonofblashyrkh on Apr 26, 2017 14:24:20 GMT -5
appeals to fans of things like Dungeons and Dragons, Tolkien, black metal, fantasy RPG's and naturalism, all of which sort of share a similar thread of a rejection of the banalities of modern living in favor of something that feels more 'authentic'. Those are pretty much my favorite things. I also got into DS through Kaptain on r/metal and then playing in the dungeon crawler here. I feel weird having more posts in the dungeon crawler than in actual DS threads but I'm still a DS novice and not as passionate as many others in the community.
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Post by kaptaincarbon on Apr 26, 2017 14:31:07 GMT -5
appeals to fans of things like Dungeons and Dragons, Tolkien, black metal, fantasy RPG's and naturalism, all of which sort of share a similar thread of a rejection of the banalities of modern living in favor of something that feels more 'authentic'. Those are pretty much my favorite things. I also got into DS through Kaptain on r/metal and then playing in the dungeon crawler here. I feel weird having more posts in the dungeon crawler than in actual DS threads but I'm still a DS novice and not as passionate as many others in the community. Got it...ill kill you character then via giant block that comes out of the ceiling.
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Post by sonofblashyrkh on Apr 26, 2017 14:56:32 GMT -5
Those are pretty much my favorite things. I also got into DS through Kaptain on r/metal and then playing in the dungeon crawler here. I feel weird having more posts in the dungeon crawler than in actual DS threads but I'm still a DS novice and not as passionate as many others in the community. Got it...ill kill you character then via giant block that comes out of the ceiling. You gave me a magic ring with detect traps in it and Dwarves are naturally tallented at detecting traps. Come at me
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Post by chaucerianmyth on Apr 26, 2017 15:46:49 GMT -5
I've honestly just spent like 3 days reading through the whole S&W campaign and it was such a trip. Glad it's still ongoing!
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Post by nahadoth on Apr 26, 2017 21:09:19 GMT -5
Welcome Goatwulf!
I know some folks on the FB group (like Grimrik) object to the nerd/D&D/VGM connotation, even if it is self chosen by those that do rally around those connections. All of us fans seem to have the ideal of escapism in common, but it seems to manifest in different ways depending on who you're asking.
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Post by thekeeper on Apr 26, 2017 21:42:27 GMT -5
All of us fans seem to have the ideal of escapism in common, but it seems to manifest in different ways depending on who you're asking. Is it 'escapism' in particular though, or even all the time? I think it'd be interesting to compare and contrast 'escapism' as a concept with like 'transportative art', if we want to make that distinction (I think we can). Like in my case, I feel that I'm one of the few DS fans let alone artists who doesn't overtly idealize/romanticize escapism, and my relationship with romanticism is rather, I don't know, rocky? I don't have the kind of disdain for modernity as other more traditionally minded or escapist oriented artists or fans may have, I'm rather neutral. I think escapism is transportative but transportative art isn't necessarily 'escapist' in my opinion. Escapism requires the intention of 'escape' which I feel includes a rejection component to some degree, while maybe transportative art is more exploratory or abstractly voyeuristic? But, maybe escapism is the natural human state (inescapable soft-solipsism or something), or maybe escapism is inherently fatalist. I'm probably overthinking this.
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Tyrannus
Verified Account
Knowledge is Night
Posts: 806
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Post by Tyrannus on Apr 26, 2017 21:47:43 GMT -5
All of us fans seem to have the ideal of escapism in common, but it seems to manifest in different ways depending on who you're asking. Is it 'escapism' in particular though, or even all the time? I think it'd be interesting to compare and contrast 'escapism' as a concept with like 'transportative art', if we want to make that distinction (I think we can). Like in my case, I feel that I'm one of the few DS fans let alone artists who doesn't overtly idealize/romanticize escapism, and my relationship with romanticism is rather, I don't know, rocky? I don't have the kind of disdain for modernity as other more traditionally minded or escapist oriented artists or fans may have, I'm rather neutral. I think escapism is transportative but transportative art isn't necessarily 'escapist' in my opinion. Escapism requires the intention of 'escape' which I feel includes a rejection component to some degree, while maybe transportative art is more exploratory or abstractly voyeuristic? But, maybe escapism is the natural human state (inescapable soft-solipsism or something), or maybe escapism is inherently fatalist. I'm probably overthinking this. I think the distinction might be in whether the location it takes you is a fixed setting (perhaps one of your own invention, perhaps not) or just a nebulous realm which is sort of more subjective and for the listener's personal escape. In both cases thought I feel there's this element of wanting to be somewhere where you aren't. Semantics aside, I just simply call that notion escapism
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Tyrannus
Verified Account
Knowledge is Night
Posts: 806
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Post by Tyrannus on Apr 26, 2017 22:19:14 GMT -5
Like to clarify, it's like being transported to a distinctly Tolkien-esque realm by music such as Balrog versus escaping into ambiguous, haunting realms like in Abandoned Places. So in both cases you want to be in an atmosphere away from where you are
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Post by nahadoth on Apr 27, 2017 0:22:12 GMT -5
Like to clarify, it's like being transported to a distinctly Tolkien-esque realm by music such as Balrog versus escaping into ambiguous, haunting realms like in Abandoned Places. So in both cases you want to be in an atmosphere away from where you are Yeah I guess I'd agree with parts of that, particularly that both have a shared love of immersive escape, as provided through music. I think, thekeeper, that trying to spot a difference between the intentional journey versus the unstructured wander with no expectations is worthwhile, but that they both contain some attitude like "I'm wandering because I feel variously disillusioned with what my day to day life is serving up." If the end result is "Just get away from it, doesn't matter where", that's one thing and usually has a more broad concept of what escape is, whereas there are some people who have an ideal destination in mind when they want to escape. Or I guess that's more or less how I've been framing it for myself, rather than focusing on what the destination is.
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Post by thekeeper on Apr 27, 2017 12:46:28 GMT -5
Like to clarify, it's like being transported to a distinctly Tolkien-esque realm by music such as Balrog versus escaping into ambiguous, haunting realms like in Abandoned Places. So in both cases you want to be in an atmosphere away from where you are Yeah I guess I'd agree with parts of that, particularly that both have a shared love of immersive escape, as provided through music. I think, thekeeper , that trying to spot a difference between the intentional journey versus the unstructured wander with no expectations is worthwhile, but that they both contain some attitude like "I'm wandering because I feel variously disillusioned with what my day to day life is serving up." If the end result is "Just get away from it, doesn't matter where", that's one thing and usually has a more broad concept of what escape is, whereas there are some people who have an ideal destination in mind when they want to escape. Or I guess that's more or less how I've been framing it for myself, rather than focusing on what the destination is. I'm not sure if the destination specificity was a part of my distinction. I feel that 'escapism' implies a negation or even a rejection aspect, that disillusion part you're talking about, more romantic maybe. I don't necessarily think 'transportative art' implies a disillusionment or necessary 'need' to go anywhere itself for a personal reason, maybe just being exploratory in an imaginative sense (or a voyeuristic one?). But then again, does the desire or enjoyment of doing that imply a disillusionment of some sort? Can you enjoy or make transportative art if you aren't disillusioned with reality, wanting an escape from it? I think you can, but I guess I'm not entirely sure.
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Post by nahadoth on Apr 28, 2017 0:09:56 GMT -5
I definitely think you can enjoy or make transportative art without being disillusioned with reality, or to varying levels, or maybe not even constantly. This is also why I think it can be useful to distinguish levels of transport, maybe on a spectrum from "take me for a ride I don't care where" to "middle earth accept no substitutes" or something.
A term just came up on the FB page - Reclusion Musick. I like it, as I think it is a good way of capturing some of the emotional or narrative journey that many of us seek in this music and related styles, but also doesn't have the connotations of like "only true barbarian steel is a worthy escape" or "moldy castles or suck it poseurs" attitudes.
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nazgaldracul
Verified Account
Find my DS at nazgaldracul.bandcamp.com
Posts: 106
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Post by nazgaldracul on Apr 28, 2017 7:37:33 GMT -5
I might be new here within the genre and thus a part of this "new wave" of dungeon synth, but i feel that DS is a very personal experience for those who, in the lack of a better expression, get it. When I create my albums and my lore I like to associate the music with this fictional world of mine, but I know that most people wouldn't. If my music is a means of escape then it will take people whereever it will independant of my original lore and esthetic. My intended journey is not engraved within the notes that is played and it is up to the listener to make of the music whatever he wills.
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