This is a support page for Ribbon Drive’s musical front.
As you may know, the first two songs of a mix have a huge impact on gameplay. If chosen as the title mix, your first song will determine the nature of the road trip and the second will influence the shape that characters take.
The example text in the book uses a mix CD called “Sucking Marrow.” The first song is Spitting Venom, by Modest Mouse. The second song is Step Off The Map & Float, by Library Voices.
The mix included with the game is called “The Decimation of Small Things”. The first song is Toward Oblivion, by XOX. The second song is The Devil & My Family, by Ghost Mice.
Additional mixes can be added as comments to this page. Please! Add your own themed mixes (40-80 minute run time, with a title). I’ll update this list with my own mixes and the mixes of those I play with.
The Skinny on
The Decimation of Small Things
Toward Oblivion is a song by xox, the umbrella under which Jackson Tegu performs. You might have noticed Jackson’s name all over Ribbon Drive – he pwns the dedication, he’s thanked in the credits, and he’s on the mix CD under two different project names. That’s because he’s both prolific and beautiful. Based out of Olympia, he’s working on a million musical projects right now, but I don’t think you can pay him money for any of them yet.
The devil & my family is a song by Gainsville, FL based Ghost Mice, who are possibly the coolest folk-punk band in the world (placing them high in the running for coolest band in the world). You can check them out at www.myspace.com/ghostmice, and they have songs available on iTunes. Aside from the devil & my family, my favourite song of theirs is Witches and Warlocks. Ghost Mice makes me want to play in a folk-punk band.
The Innsmouth Look is a song by Vancouver’s beloved H.P. Lovecraft tribute band, The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets. These guys put on really cool shows. Their singer, Toren Atkinson, is a member of the Vancouver Gaming Guild (www.vancouvergamingguild.com), which connects local gamers and hosts neat conventions. Their website is www.thickets.net and you can buy their music and merch from there. The Math Song is one of my favourite songs.
Poison is by You Say Party! We Say Die!, another Vancouver-based band. Downtown Mayors Goodnight and Monster are both amazing songs that you should listen to. Their myspace is www.myspace/com/yousaypartywesaydie, and there are links there to all of their albums.
Paper Crown is a song by Minneapolis-based The Butcher’s Bag (www.myspace.com/butchersbagmusic). They gave themselves an awesome review, saying “The end result could be described as a horrific circus of beautiful nightmares.” Yes, and that’s largely due to the vocals of Charlie Glib, a member of the story games community (rawk!). They don’t appear to have an album out yet, but you should road trip to Minneapolis and see them play.
Falling Out Of Windows is a song by Vancouver-based Tuck. They’ve recently put out a really amazing CD titled “Lullabies and Other Lies”, which is linked from their myspace (www.myspace.com/tuckvancouver). They really fill a stage and a room, and are definitely worth seeing live.
The Rifle is the second-most-gorgeous song by Olympia-based June Madrona. The first-most-gorgeous is Santa Fe, which destroys me and captures immediately the tone of my favourite Ribbon Drive moments. Their work can be heard at www.myspace.com/junemadrona. If you are destroyed by June Madrona, you will also be destroyed by the song Hunting Ghosts by Library Voices (www.myspace.com/libraryvoices), which I had really wanted to include on this CD.
Consequence is a song by Vancouver-based Maria in the Shower (www.myspace.com/mariaintheshower), who describe themselves as Voodoo Gyspieland Cabaret. These guys play a phenomenal amount of shows locally, often with another cool band called Blackberry Wood. Come to Vancouver, stay at my house, see those two bands.
20 Minutes of Oxygen is a second song by The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets. This is from the album Spaceship Zero, the soundtrack to that (non-existent) excellent, cult-classic movie. There’s also a Spaceship Zero roleplaying game written by members of the band (Warren Banks and Toren Atkinson), which is published through Green Ronin. It’s really cool, and if you lack retrofuture space action in your life, you should pick it up.
Life Comes At You Fast is by Seattle-based Van Gogh’s Severed Ear. Van Gogh’s Severed Ear is Brandon Hopper, and his myspace is www.myspace.com/vangogh39sseveredear.
Portland is by Chris Clavin, who’s also in Ghost Mice. In additional to his solo project, his bands and constantly touring, he runs Plan-It-X Records. He is likely made out of pure energy. Myspace: www.myspace.com/therealchrisclavin.
Windows Down is by Linear Markets. That’s kind of an inside joke, born out of a game of Bleeding Omaha (my emo songwriting game; our fictional band was named Linear Markets). Linear Markets is xox. Hey, this is a cool idea: listen to the ending of Windows Down really closely.
[...] In the meantime, check out the Ribbon Drive webpage (in case you also want to order it now) and the playlist of the Mix CD that comes with [...]