Music Of Minecraft

The music of the video game ''Minecraft'' was primarily composed by German musician Daniel Rosenfeld, better known by his pseudonym C418. Later on in the game's history, Gareth Coker, Lena Raine, Kumi Tanioka and Samuel Åberg contributed with several albums and EPs. These albums include music featured in the game, as well as other music included in trailers, and instrumentals not included in the game's final release.

Rosenfeld was solely responsible for the soundtrack of ''Minecraft'' until 2020, with the releases of '' Minecraft – Volume Alpha'' in 2011 and '' Minecraft – Volume Beta'' in 2013. However, Coker had released seven albums in downloadable content for legacy console versions of the game from 2016 to 2020.

In 2020, Raine released the EP ''Minecraft: Nether Update'' and has since produced the albums ''Minecraft: Caves & Cliffs'' (2021) and ''Minecraft: Wild Update'' (2022). In 2015, Rosenfeld hinted at a potential upcoming third album for the game, however this has not yet come to fruition.

The game's soundtrack is mostly instrumental ambient music, and has been praised by critics; in 2011, the video game blog ''Kotaku'' chose the soundtrack as one of the best video game soundtracks of that year.

''Minecraft'' soundtrack

Unlike the music for ''Minecraft'''s downloadable content, which has only released on legacy console versions and the ''Bedrock Edition'' of the game, the following releases have been implemented in all versions of ''Minecraft.'' However, not every track is available in-game.

Releases by C418

In a panel at MineCon in 2012, Rosenfeld stated that he has had a long-term interest in video games and was involved with several video game communities. He met Markus Persson in an Internet Relay Chat (IRC) and began composing music for ''Minecraft'' when the game was in its very early stages as a tech demo. The two shared interest in Aphex Twin and exchanged each other's projects. Both were impressed by each other's work, and eventually, Persson chose to pair Rosenfeld's music with his game.

''Minecraft – Volume Alpha''

On 4 March 2011, C418 released '' Minecraft – Volume Alpha'', the first ''Minecraft'' soundtrack album, and his second studio album overall. The album comprises most of the music featured in the game, as well as other music included in trailers, and instrumentals that were not included in the game's final release.

The album was met with positive reviews, with Andy Kellman from AllMusic praising its replay value, stating that "none of the recurring elements is pronounced or simple enough to become fatiguing with repeated play".Kellman, Andy " Minecraft – Volume Alpha Review, AllMusic, Macrovision Corporation, retrieved 21 March 2018 Rosenfeld has said that the minimalist nature of his work was "unavoidable", as "''Minecraft'' has a terrible sound engine".

In June 2015, the first physical versions of ''Minecraft – Volume Alpha'' were released by record label Ghostly, as an LP and CD. In 2022, the album was nominated for Top Dance/Electronic Album at the ''Billboard'' Music Awards.

''Minecraft – Volume Beta''

On 9 November 2013, C418 released '' Minecraft – Volume Beta'', the second ''Minecraft'' soundtrack album, and his fifth studio album overall. The album includes newer music that was added into the game after the release of ''Minecraft – Volume Alpha'', as well as audio from 10 of the 13 collectable music discs within the game. The album has a generally darker tone than its precursor.

In 2013, the album appeared on the ''Billboard'' Dance/Electronic Albums chart, peaking at number 14.

Further contributions by C418

Rosenfeld hinted at a potential upcoming third album for ''Minecraft'' soundtrack in 2015, stating "I'll still work on Minecraft, so there'll probably be another album". In 2017, Rosenfeld confirmed the future release, claiming the album "is still far from done".

After the game's 2018 Update Aquatic, three new songs were added to the game as underwater music. These singles – "Dragon Fish", "Shuniji" and "Axolotl" – were released by Rosenfeld on 9 August, 10 November, and 12 December 2018 respectively.

Rosenfeld has confirmed on Twitter that the third album will not be called ''Volume Gamma'' and it will be longer than the previous two albums combined, which in total is over three hours and 18 minutes.

On 8 January 2021, Rosenfeld was asked in an interview with Anthony Fantano whether or not there was still a third volume of the soundtrack in production. Rosenfeld responded that "I have something—I consider it finished—but things have become complicated, especially as ''Minecraft'' is now a big property, so I don't know".

Releases by Lena Raine

''Minecraft: Nether Update (Original Game Soundtrack)''

On 8 April 2020, it was announced Lena Raine, known for her work on the ''Celeste'' soundtrack, composed new music for ''Minecraft'''s 1.16 Nether Update. Admitting to feeling intimidated by the task of composing music for the game, stating "introducing something new can possibly feel like an intrusion", Raine submitted a demo soundtrack to Mojang, based on her album ''Oneknowing''.

Raine said she wanted "to give the music a personal flavor, while also holding true to the vibe of the original soundtrack". Predominantly performed on the piano, the three ambient tracks saw Raine challenge herself "to see how far I could push the sound of the piano until it resembled other things entirely". Alongside three new ambient tracks, Raine also composed "Pigstep" for an in-game music disc. On the soundtrack version, which was released on 14 June 2020, "Pigstep" has two different mixes.

''Minecraft: Caves & Cliffs (Original Game Soundtrack)''

On 20 October 2021, the fourth official release of the ''Minecraft'' soundtrack was released, with songs written and produced by Lena Raine and Kumi Tanioka, known for working on music for ''Final Fantasy'' and '' Hyrule Warriors''. The album contains ten tracks that were introduced in the 1.18 update of ''Minecraft'' and "Otherside", composed by Raine, which is a new in-game music disc.

''Minecraft: Wild Update (Original Game Soundtrack)''

On 20 April 2022, the fifth official release of the ''Minecraft'' soundtrack was released, with songs written and produced by Lena Raine and Samuel Åberg. The EP contains four tracks that were introduced in the 1.19 update of ''Minecraft''.

DLC soundtrack

While C418 composed holiday themed music in downloadable content for console editions of the game in 2014, British composer Gareth Coker has been responsible for the bulk of music for DLC in '' Minecraft: Bedrock Edition''.

On 21 December 2016, albums ''Minecraft: Battle & Tumble (Original Soundtrack)'', ''Minecraft: Chinese Mythology (Original Soundtrack)'' and ''Minecraft: Greek Mythology (Original Soundtrack)'' were released alongside three downloadable packs on the Bedrock version of the game.

Two more albums of similar themes, ''Minecraft: Norse Mythology (Original Soundtrack)'' and ''Minecraft: Egyptian Mythology (Original Soundtrack)'' were released on 19 December 2017 and 29 May 2018 respectively. Coker's final album for the Bedrock Edition of ''Minecraft'' – ''Minecraft: Glide Mini Game (Original Soundtrack) –'' was released on 22 December 2020.

Unlike previous work by C418, Coker's albums for ''Minecraft'' are released under Microsoft's own label.

Discography

Rosenfeld originally uploaded his two soundtrack albums to Bandcamp and streaming services, but have since received physical versions issued by Ghostly. In 2015 and 2020 respectively, ''Volume Alpha'' and ''Volume Beta'' received both CD and LP formats. Coker and Raine's releases are only available through digital formats.

Reception

The soundtrack's minimalistic and melancholic composition has been praised by critics. The ambient music style of the soundtrack has been compared to the works of Brian Eno, Erik Satie, Aphex Twin, and Vangelis. In 2018, ''the Boar'' described the soundtrack's composition as "nostalgia in its purest form".

In 2022, the ''Minecraft'' soundtrack placed at number 54 on the ABC Classic 100 countdown, as voted by listeners.

Charts

Album chart usages for BillboardDanceElectronic
Album chart usages for BillboardDanceElectronic
Album chart usages for BillboardDanceElectronic

References

External links

Lena Raine's Website

C418's Website

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