The SoundtrackPub Date : 2020-08-01DOI: 10.1386/TS_00003_1
Alexander Kolassa
{"title":"Hail the nightmare: Music, sound and materiality in Bloodborne","authors":"Alexander Kolassa","doi":"10.1386/TS_00003_1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/TS_00003_1","url":null,"abstract":"This article investigates the usage of music and sound in the 2015 video game Bloodborne, exploring how the game’s aesthetics of difficulty and maximalism exert a disruptive influence for a struggling player. In particular, it focuses on how the soundtrack attenuates the\u0000 series of escalating monster boss battles around which the game is structured. Combining ‘Gothic’ and ‘Weird’ horror tropes with the techniques of musical modernism, these composite ‘musical monsters’ gesture, disturbingly, towards new kinds of monstrous\u0000 materialities that challenge a simple distinction between sound and image.","PeriodicalId":253130,"journal":{"name":"The Soundtrack","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134188311","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The SoundtrackPub Date : 2020-08-01DOI: 10.1386/ts_00002_1
Sara Bowden
{"title":"Not suitable for the easily disturbed: Sonic nonlinearity and disruptive horror in Doki Doki Literature Club!","authors":"Sara Bowden","doi":"10.1386/ts_00002_1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/ts_00002_1","url":null,"abstract":"The extent to which disturbing video games incite real-world violence has been a source of intense debate since the late 1990s following school shootings across the United States. In 2017, the release of Team Salvato’s Doki Doki Literature Club! (DDLC!) signified\u0000 a major shift in independent game developers’ approaches to creating a violent horror gaming experience: the developers include the use of nonlinear sound (e.g. frequency jumps, non-standard harmony, noise/chaos) and local-level melodic transformations to complicate player immersion.\u0000 In this article, I argue that the game’s music is one of the greatest sources of horror. The game music in DDLC! works as both an immersive and a disruptive agent that shapes the player’s gaming experience. Though the game is a work of fiction, the emotions and reflections\u0000 of the player prompted by the violent acts within are real ‐ the player’s experiences of horror, fear and terror are visceral.","PeriodicalId":253130,"journal":{"name":"The Soundtrack","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130663037","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The SoundtrackPub Date : 2020-08-01DOI: 10.1386/ts_00007_1
Kate Galloway
{"title":"Rewind, revisit, relisten: Transport, spatial displacement and mixtape environments in Small Radios Big Televisions","authors":"Kate Galloway","doi":"10.1386/ts_00007_1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/ts_00007_1","url":null,"abstract":"Small Radios Big Televisions (2016) guides the player through a series of abandoned modern factories to locate objects and solve puzzles, including cassette tapes that transport them to virtual locations. Each tape presents a diorama-like environment, ranging from natural environments,\u0000 including forests and beaches. Throughout Small Radios Big Televisions players must warp and electronically distort music and sounds, magnetizing tapes. These musical disruptions of the tape tracks are a core game mechanic. This article draws on autoethnographic gameplay, material and\u0000 spatial analysis to investigate how players explore abandoned worlds stored on glitchy analogue cassettes full of visual and sonic noise.","PeriodicalId":253130,"journal":{"name":"The Soundtrack","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124862788","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The SoundtrackPub Date : 2020-08-01DOI: 10.1386/ts_00005_1
Stephanie Lind
{"title":"Music as temporal disruption in Assassin’s Creed","authors":"Stephanie Lind","doi":"10.1386/ts_00005_1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/ts_00005_1","url":null,"abstract":"The Assassin’s Creed video game series incorporates real-world historical elements. While some historically derived musical elements are referenced from the time period and geographic setting of the game, in the first game of the series, Assassin’s Creed 1\u0000 (2007), these historical snippets are subsumed within a modern musical setting emphasizing digital sound. The effect is a bleeding-over of ancient with modern that mirrors the plot of the game. This new spin on the time travel narrative creates a disconnect for the player and invokes disruption\u0000 in a number of ways: through plots, visual distortions and sound/music effects. Musically, disruptions invoke a sense of aural discomfort in the player, which mimics aspects of the game narrative such as the protagonist’s physical distress. In order to better understand the interrelationship\u0000 between these components, this article uses graphic transcriptions to categorize the musical, visual and narrative functions into fiction, interface and hypervisual/hypersonic components.","PeriodicalId":253130,"journal":{"name":"The Soundtrack","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122533902","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The SoundtrackPub Date : 2020-08-01DOI: 10.1386/ts_00004_1
N. J. Graakjær
{"title":"‘Listen to the atmosphere!’: On spectator sounds and their potentially disruptive role in a football simulation video game","authors":"N. J. Graakjær","doi":"10.1386/ts_00004_1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/ts_00004_1","url":null,"abstract":"This article aims to specify the role of spectator sounds in football simulation video games as exemplified by FIFA 19: what are the structures and functions of spectator sounds and how are these sounds related to the visuals of the video game and the player’s actions and\u0000 potential experience of disruption? Although the examination generally adds to the understanding of a prevalent and purportedly significant yet hitherto rather underexplored type of video game sound, the examination also motivates a modification of certain positions within previous research\u0000 that has routinely highlighted the non-obtrusive role of video game sounds. Specifically, the article shows how the disruptive potential of the spectator sounds is attributional both to what they sound like, why they occur and how and from what perspective the player\u0000 is called upon to listen to them.","PeriodicalId":253130,"journal":{"name":"The Soundtrack","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116574335","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The SoundtrackPub Date : 2020-08-01DOI: 10.1386/ts_00006_1
Jennifer Smith
{"title":"Vocal disruptions in the aural game world: The female entertainer in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Transistor and Divinity: Original Sin II","authors":"Jennifer Smith","doi":"10.1386/ts_00006_1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/ts_00006_1","url":null,"abstract":"The voice as disruption is not a new concept. Disruptions to discourses, relationships and lifestyles can be caused by the insertion of the voice. In video games, voices can be disruptive to player progressions, gameplay and character relationships through dialogue and performances.\u0000 The female entertainer frequently disrupts the aural space of a game through her uniqueness as a performer at the forefront of the diegetic space, using song to tell her own story. The video games The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (2015), Transistor (2014) and Divinity Original Sin\u0000 II (2017) use diegetic female entertainer voices to disrupt the video game’s continuity. These case studies consider performance as disruption to gameplay, which is significant for the growth of the story and its characters, alongside the player’s understanding of the game’s\u0000 musical meanings.","PeriodicalId":253130,"journal":{"name":"The Soundtrack","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132648605","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The SoundtrackPub Date : 2019-08-01DOI: 10.1386/TS.10.2.145_1
Djoymi Baker
{"title":"Predestination: Uncanny (mis)recognition, science fiction and ‘home movie’ moments","authors":"Djoymi Baker","doi":"10.1386/TS.10.2.145_1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/TS.10.2.145_1","url":null,"abstract":"This article uses the science fiction film Predestination (Spierig Brothers, 2014) to examine the combined role of sound and image in the subjective home movie moment. Vivian Sobchack argues that even within a fiction film, an audience member might recognize a familiar location, momentarily pulling them out of a fictional engagement with the screen text and instead facilitating an engagement more aligned with that of a home movie. Given Sobchacks interest in phenomenology, it is noticeable that she focuses exclusively on the cinematic image in this particular work. I argue that liminal blurring can occur between modes of engagement, triggered by both image and sound. In Predestination , the puzzle narrative that colludes with the uncanny voice is paralleled by the way that the sights and sounds of Melbourne facilitate uncanny home movie moments, shot through with science fictional estrangement.","PeriodicalId":253130,"journal":{"name":"The Soundtrack","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114030268","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The SoundtrackPub Date : 2019-08-01DOI: 10.1386/TS.10.2.107_1
J. Cumming, M. Potter
{"title":"Sounding Obsession: A discussion on sounds from a garage film","authors":"J. Cumming, M. Potter","doi":"10.1386/TS.10.2.107_1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/TS.10.2.107_1","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":253130,"journal":{"name":"The Soundtrack","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116228223","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The SoundtrackPub Date : 2019-08-01DOI: 10.1386/TS.10.2.127_1
Diana Sandars
{"title":"Penguin Café Orchestra, Malcolm and Mary: The soundtrack of Melbourne’s outcast children","authors":"Diana Sandars","doi":"10.1386/TS.10.2.127_1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/TS.10.2.127_1","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":253130,"journal":{"name":"The Soundtrack","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132338085","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}