you got game (music) #3

Happy August one and all! It's been a mostly sunny carefree month here. Sunshine, blue skies and a stillness to the air, true peak August vibes all said. So what better way to lean into the tail end of summer as the evenings gently grow darker and the temperature feels a touch cooler, than with another sample of my favourite game music. This time around it comes from a game I may have mentioned around these here parts previously: Hotline Miami, otherwise referred to by myself as 'Trippy Retro Ultra-Violent Hallucinogenic Slash Bang: The Game'. 

Where to begin with this one? I feel like this is one of those games I've had a real fascination with for a long time. In fact thinking about this game again I am struck by the realisation that this game came out over a solid decade ago now, back in the autumn of 2012 and then releasing for consoles in 2013 when I got my hands on it. Eventually when I compile that list of favourite games I keep meaning to get around to this will definitely feature somewhere high-up on it. 

Not just for the snappy, neon-saturated retro gameplay which it has in spades. No this is a game that introduced me to something long-lasting. Something which I may have had a vague awareness of beforehand but which crystallised into shape the moment I played this game. in short Hotline Miami gave me an appreciation for synthwave, that strain of electronic music inspired by the moody synthesizer soundtracks of eighties pop culture. Now synthwave is my go-to preferred term of choice but it seems to be one of those genres with no shortage of sub-genres and alternative labels. Retrowave, vapourwave, chillwave, darkwave and if Wikipedia has anything to say about it there's also something called Sovietwave and you just know I am going to be checking that out as soon as I'm finished here. 

Anyhow, back to Hotline Miami and a soundtrack that is up there with the very best of them, headed by what is for me its definitive track: 'Miami' by Jasper Byrne.

This is the track I still place at the top of my all-time favourite pieces of music. A prevailing sense of uncertainty, ambivalence and nostalgia speeding its way along the highway at night. A dream of danger and hope playing out against the certainty that all things end summed up in a mere four and a half minutes. it's quite the track is what i'm saying and an absolute favourite of mine. This being the internet, naturally others have come and put their own spin on it as well meaning I have no shortage of favourite variations on it as well which I include below for your listening pleasure. 

Oh and a version with vocals from Trevor Something with intentionally dodgy lyrics...

You know what? While I'm at it I might just go, sit back and listen to the whole soundtrack again for the seven billionth time, that's some good listening there. Also Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number, go check that out as well, its more of the same but more confusing, but in a good way.