What is some music similar to the Bastion soundtrack?

January 18, 2012 10:29 PM

I've been filling some of my idle time by playing Bastion (previously), and have fallen in love with the soundtrack. I'm pretty sure I remember some thematically similar stuff in Firefly, as well, for what that's worth. The Bastion team have categorized it as "acoustic frontier trip-hop," but since that's a genre that they pretty much just made up, I was hoping that my fellow AskMe folks could point me at other similar music. Special snowflake details after the break.

I have listened to folk- and bluegrass-type music before, and tend to prefer instrumentals, with the exception of not-too-twangy vocals in the vein of Alison Krauss (or "Build That Wall" from the Bastion soundtrack). I like groups with strong musicianship (David Grisman, Bela Fleck and the Flecktones), but for the purposes of this question, I'm looking for stuff a bit more downtempo than the traditional bluegrass catalog.

Thanks!

posted by stufflebean to media & arts (12 answers total)

Accoustic frontier trip-hop is a good description for the Trigun soundtrack, particularly tracks Never Could Have Been Worse and Blue Funk.
posted by kithrater at 11:48 PM on January 18, 2012

It's reminding me a little of the Tea Party's very Middle Eastern themed album, whichever that was...hmmm...The Edges of Twilight. It's not super close, but some of the melodies seem similar.
posted by thylacinthine at 12:06 AM on January 19, 2012

Anime soundtracks are a pretty good bet. I'll Nth Trigun, and suggest Cowboy Bebop, whilst not exactly the same, may scratch a very similar itch for you.
posted by smoke at 1:31 AM on January 19, 2012

I found it to be similar to the Tea Party -- Both Edges of Twilight and Splendor Solis, as well as Loreena McKennit - The Mask and the Mirror and some of Dead Can Dance's work. But that's likely because all of these, as well as Bastion, draw on Spanish, Moroccan and Algerian folk music.
posted by frimble at 2:16 AM on January 19, 2012

Sounds a lot like Boards of Canada's Campfire Headphase to me.
posted by aparrish at 5:36 AM on January 19, 2012

Love that game's soundtrack. It reminded me of old four tet, and maybe AM Architect, Teebs or even instrumental-ish hip hop type stuff like Onra. The soundtrack would probably loosely fit into the genre called 'downtempo', kind of typified by Boards of Canada (that aparrish mentioned) that you might find worth checking out.
posted by yeahyeahyeahwhoo at 7:34 AM on January 19, 2012

The Borderlands Soundtrack has always reminded me of Firefly, for what it's worth.
posted by ashirys at 7:51 AM on January 19, 2012

It's not absolutely a perfect parallel, but you might get the same world-music + electronica feel from the fabulous Beats Antique.
posted by WidgetAlley at 8:40 AM on January 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

Emancipator!

http://emancipator.bandcamp.com/
Fantastic downtempo multi-instrumentalist.
posted by spatula at 1:54 PM on January 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

You mention Bela Fleck, but have you heard Tales from the Acoustic Planet? If you liked it you may also like Yo-Yo Ma's Goat Rodeo Sessions. It has the same general feel, and features Edgar Myers and Stuart Duncan, both of whom played on Acoustic Planet.
posted by lekvar at 3:23 PM on January 19, 2012

I've been slowly working through all of your excellent suggestions. I'm going to wait until I've listened to everything to mark best answers, but I promise I'll come back.
posted by stufflebean at 8:10 PM on January 19, 2012

ropeladder contacted me with something that fit my criteria very well. I thought I would post it here for the benefit of anyone cruising by.
posted by stufflebean at 9:13 PM on August 20, 2012 [1 favorite]