I love music, I always have, who doesn’t? Music is what inspires us to so much more, music sets a tone (no pun intended), a mood. How empty movies, games or even commercials would be without music?
Every creative mind needs their fill of some good music. I have come to love soundtracks of all types – movie scores, game scores, and even trailer music. When I write I find it very inspiring to write with music, and I do tend to fall to the more fantastical style of music, as that is the genre I tend to write in these days.
I decided to put up a short list of some cool music resources that I like to listen to in the background when I am in my creative process. I hope you find them helpful and can enjoy them as well. And by all means, if you know of any other suggestions let me know!
For this list I am going to focus primarily on freely available music, things you can stream online while doing your creative works. Anyone can walk into music store or iTunes and buy a blockbuster movie soundtrack, but there are so many less-known indie artists and scenes out there that are really good.
Without any further ado, here is my list (work in progress):
- Radio Rivendell
This is such a cool online radio station, focusing on fantasy music, and trying really hard to promote the indie market. You can just listen to this in the background or use it to find some cool artists out there. - Ancient FM
This project focuses literally on old music, as in medieval vibes, using the old instruments and everything. Ideal background music for a tabletop game to set the mood. Or ideal for a pub, yes, I would love to have a pint in a pub with this playing in the background :) - Jon Adamich
A guy from Brooklyn, New York, who composes orchestral pieces. One of his albums was completed through a successful Kickstarter campaign, and he has many pieces to listen to on his Soundcloud profile. - Denny Schneidemesser
Denny mainly writes soundtracks for video games and animated movies. His stuff is really awesome and freely available online to listen to. You can listen on his website, Youtube or Soundcloud - Erdenstern
Some awesome fantastical pieces, very much sound-track vibes. I’m not too sure what they are saying because their website is not in English, but their music I can understand :) You can listen to their songs on their website, Soundcloud or YouTube - Brandon Fiechter
This is a really cool indie artist who writes many fantasy-styled tunes. He puts all his work on Youtube (thumbs up), does some work for games etc. as an artist for hire. It’s also worth listening to his brother, Derek Fiechter. The sound is very midi and not so much orchestral, giving it that raw indie video game feel that I rather like. - Two Steps From Hell
Cool guys who write some schweet original music for movie trailers. - Epic North
More epic trailer music. - Malukah
She does a lot of Skyrim minstrel covers, yip. And then also some other cool game soundtrack songs and movie songs. - Vindsvept
A guy writing cool fantasy themed music and let’s you download the mp3s for free if you want to. Good quality stuff. - Tiasu
This dude’s vibe might be more for a Scifi/anime feel. Very upbeat rhythm driven – I can hear this as the soundtrack just as Ichigo from Bleach is about to own some overpowered opponent. - Erang
Interesting mix of creepy and cool tunes with a fantasy feel. Can be found on Youtube and Bandcamp. In his own words, it’s “Dungeon Synth and Medieval Fantasy Music”.
Happy listening :)
Fantastical Muse 