Josh’s All-Time Favourites

If they don’t play these at my funeral, then I won’t go!

Long Driving Rythm

Around 2019 - 2020, I came to realise how much I loved long songs. You can really get lost in a long song, and there’s more time to build up to and appreciate a massive climax, or just enjoy how a really nice hook plays out in a way you can’t necessarily get in a 3 minute song.

I especially loved this idea of a constant, driving, rythm, and had to create this playlist to capture how I felt. These songs come from a variety of genres, but all tick that “long driving rythm” box for me.

Hotline Miami 3 OST

I’ve always loved the soundtracks from Hotline Miami 1 & 2. After discovering and falling in love with the experimental album Music from Taiwan Mystery 台​灣​謎​景 - Mong Tong 夢東 in early 2023, I realised I had exactly what I needed to put together my own interpretation of the Hotline Miami soundtracks.

The Hotline Miami gameplay loop roughly follows this pattern:

  • Occasional dark and ominous, confusing story scenes with menacing, experimental music. Music from Taiwan Mystery fit this category perfectly.
  • The main level of the game itself, with energetic, techno, often synth heavy electronic music playing while you brutally murder countless enemies.
  • The end of the level, where you drive along the beach highway into the sunset, listening to some chill, usually synthy tracks.

The original soundtracks fit the gameplay loop really well, and I tried to do the same with my playlist. I arranged the tracks in a way that leads you from the dark, brooding, experimental tracks, into the high energy techno and synthwave tracks, and finally finishes each section off with a couple beautiful, peaceful, synthy tracks. I’m stoked with how the finished playlist came out!

Minecraft - Volume Gamma

In mid-2023, I came across several beautiful ambient and instrumental tracks in a short space of time (Circle 12 - Foam and Sand, Robert Koch, Vignette: Panacea - Disasterpeace, Blaek - letherette). Some of them instantly struck me as sounding like they belonged on a Minecraft OST.

I was inspired to put together a full playlist and theme it like a sequel to C418’s Minecraft - Volume Alpha and Minecraft - Volume Beta OSTs.

Curating and arranging this playlist was not simple, the hardest thing is sometimes having to cut a track you like because it doesn’t quite fit the vibe or it throws off the balance of the list. Anyways, I hope you like it!

💻Epic Hacker music💻

Music for hacking into the mainframe 😎