TF2 music

January 26, 2008 9:53 PM

I really like the music used in the game Team Fortress 2 (TF2). I describe it as 60's secret agent music (think early James Bond). Where can I find more music like this? Is there a sub-genre style of music that this belongs to? If you don't know what TF2 is, check out the trailers.
posted by medarby to media & arts (12 comments total)

United Future Organization has some of this sound, although they're a little more down-tempo.
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 10:07 PM on January 26, 2008

You want the secret agent station over at SomaFM.
posted by damn dirty ape at 10:33 PM on January 26, 2008 [2 favorites]

I started playing TF2 last week and was struck by how much the music (and, frankly, much of the game itself) reminded me of No One Lives Forever and the sequel. The Game of the Year Edition of the first game included a CD of music called In the Lounge, which you could probably track down somewhere. I also found an article about the CD which names some artists who participated.
posted by Partial Law at 10:34 PM on January 26, 2008

Yeah, UFO's No Sound is too Taboo is good. Mellow's CQ Soundtrack is absolutely filled with win. Edwin Astley's soundtracks for The Saint and Danger Man are fine examples of the genre. Capitol's Ultra-Lounge collection #7 is titled "The Crime Scene: Spies, Thighs, and Private Eyes." Laika & the Cosmonauts have some good spy music covers and general surf-rockiness...
posted by mumkin at 11:11 PM on January 26, 2008 [1 favorite]

the propellerheads' decksanddrumsandrockandroll has a lot of tracks which evoke this sound, like spybreak! and particularly on her majesty's secret service. i would describe it more as heavily influenced by the spy-movie-music genre, though. the soma-fm station is a really good place to listen if you like this stuff.
posted by sergeant sandwich at 12:36 AM on January 27, 2008

I believe the name of the genre is spy jazz.
posted by juv3nal at 2:18 AM on January 27, 2008 [3 favorites]

Yeah... go soundtrack. My personal favorite is Our Man Flint / In Like Flint, scored by Jerry Goldsmith.
posted by ph00dz at 3:29 AM on January 27, 2008

Seconding damn dirty ape on SomaFM's Secret Agent station: "The soundtrack for your stylish, mysterious, dangerous life. For Spies and PIs too!"

I listen to this for days on end at my job. Someday, Her Majesty's Secret Service is going to call needing my crack tech support skills. (Why they wouldn't just find someone in England, I try not to dwell on).
posted by a young man in spats at 6:24 AM on January 27, 2008

Thanks, thanks a lot! This will give me a lot to listen.
posted by medarby at 6:29 AM on January 27, 2008

Thread aside for the TF2:ers - Come play with the rest of the MeFites on the MeFi server sometime!
posted by gemmy at 7:05 AM on January 27, 2008

Couple suggestions from a fellow fan:

Scorpio Rising by Thunderball.

The Power of Suggestion by Karminsky Experience Inc.

An Italian Story by Daniele Luppi. (It's more of a Fellini sound, but still quite good for your purposes.)

You've Been Spiked by Chris Joss, which I've only just purchased, sounds about right.

I don't know if you've seen "The Incredibles", but the composer, Michael Giacchino, is a big fan of the 60s sound, and it really comes through in the soundtrack. Particularly, tracks like "Off to Work", "Life's Incredible Again", "Lithe or Death", "Escaping Nomanisan", and "The Incredits" are right in your sweet spot.

Otherwise, Go for the original soundtracks mentioned earlier.
posted by Doctor Suarez at 11:04 AM on January 27, 2008

It might be interesting to know that the title track from the Beach Boys classic album Pet Sounds was originally entitled "Run James, Run" and was going to be submitted as a piece of Bond film music before Brian Wilson had a change of heart.

I also wanted to note that the piece juv3nal links to was written by mefi's own scram.
posted by ludwig_van at 11:44 AM on January 27, 2008