jam: pretty much any iconic overworld song from Minecraft Volume Alpha, nether songs (both C418 and Lena Raine), a bunch of Beta songs too and also the 1.13 ones... the majority of minecraft songs fall into the jam category imo, they’re chill and set a perfect vibe
bop: Flake, Door, Aria Math, Dreiton, Taswell, A L P H A, So Below, Cat, Dog, any of the music discs really (just look at the parrots man, they got the spirit)
banger: middle movements of Alpha, Concrete Halls, arguably also Aria Math, Pigstep
Lynn's track-by-track opinions on Minecraft albums, part 1: Volumes Alpha and Beta by C418.
Starting this off with the original two albums, which I'm pretty sure include some tracks that aren't in the game, so that's exciting!
I recommend finding the album on your music-listening platform of choice and listening to each track as you read.
(also I'm writing these as I listen to each track so I might say stuff that is contradicted by something later on, sometimes even in the same song)
Volume Alpha
Key - This is a short one, but I like how it kinda sets up the Vibe™, even if it's more sparse and distant than the other tracks. I like this one.
Door - This one does a thing I like where it's, like, the first "actual" track, with the first track on the album being more like an intro. I really like how it starts with, like, the skeleton of the Minecraft motif before fleshing it out into a variant, and then moving to a different but kinda similar tune.
Subwoofer Lullaby - Oh I know this one! It makes me really nostalgic for, like, 2013. When I was, like, 11 and the world was simpler and I had very few worries for like the first half of the year before I went to secondary school and went through what were probably the most stressful 4 years of my life to the point I'm pretty sure I've supressed some of my memories of them. Very nice, 10/10!
Death - This track kinda makes Disc 11 make a lot more sense. It's a nice ambient track, accompanied by the sounds of a player killing a chicken but with more sounds, complete with a gross squelch before the item pickup. Not a big fan of this.
Living Mice - Another classic! This kinda sums up what the feeling of playing Minecraft is, especially on Survival. Like when the sun is rising on your house and you've just got a boat and are planning on going out to look for stuff.
Moog City - My dad is a musician and I've heard him talk about Moog before. Did you know it's actually pronounced, like, "Mohg"? I swear this is in the game, but like. Different? Guess I'll find out! I like this one, by the way.
Haggstrom - I swear this is also a music thing? Though it's probably also a place in Sweden. I wouldn't know, I haven't been there. Anyway this is another classic! Very nice. I like the bit about halfway through where it like. "Drops" a bit and then sort of ramps up again, and the reversed-sounding clicks in the background.
Minecraft - Eyyyyyyyy it's this one! I love it. It's so calm and a bit melancholic, like it's mourning what came before the current Overworld while also acknowledging the beauty of what it is now. Even though it predates the current concept of there being a "before".
Oxygène - Kinda reminds me of the MNOG soundtrack. Very serene, and leads directly into
Équinoxe - See above, but with more piano. Has elements of another track that is in the game, but I can't remember which. And then it builds in intensity and then sort of quickly tapers off, and there's a weird electronic warbling as it fades.
Mice on Venus - Apparently the name is a reference to a German music duo? This is another one I vividly remember. Makes me want to make a giant building out of Polished Andesite based on my OCs, while messing around with resource packs (a thing I did back in like 2014). I like how it starts out melancholic and then becomes whimsical and almost mischievous-sounding about two thirds of the way through.
Dry Hands - A very minimalist piano piece. Nice!
Wet Hands - Ough I feel slightly like I might cry. Another "watching the sun rise over your house in Survival" track.
Clark - Bwahhhhhhhhh... bwahhhhhhh... Very nice! Oh wait it's this song! Nice!
Chris - Very pleasant and vworp-y.
Thirteen - Bleagh. Ominous. As fits the name, I guess. Not a big fan though :/ About halfway through it goes to an ominous wind noise, with clanking and weird sound effects, and like. A weird droning (again, getting MNOG vibes) and this bit is pretty good, I just think the first half is kinda "eh". Definitely better than 11.
Excuse - Don't have much to say on this one. It's nice!
Sweden - The other big one. I love it. Absolutely encapsulates the feelings of classic Minecraft.
Cat - Bloopy blorpy :3 Music for bugs (which is fitting because I call my cat "bug" sometimes).
Dog - Like cat but. Crunchier? And more upbeat. I like it!
Danny - Another classic.
Beginning - Short and calm, also another prominent usage of the Minecraft motif. I probably forgot to mention a few, so uhhh. Sorry if I did.
Droopy likes Ricochet - Apparently this was used in a trailer on the Minecraft website? Nice! Don't have much else to say.
Droopy likes Your Face - Apparently the weird voice clips in this one are from this toy. Very fun and weird, and the perfect closer for the album.
Volume Beta
Ki - Oooh this is a good one! Very vworpy, and I like how it does the "build up and then immediately come down" thing.
Alpha - It's Minecraft, but different! I think the main difference might be the time signature? I don't know much about music. Like instead of going "Duh, duh duh, duh" it goes "Duh, duh-duh, duh". Oh but then it gets, like. Cinematic? Yeah I kinda love this! This one's long, it's like 10 minutes. At the point I'm at (about 6 minutes in) it does one of the other tracks (I can't remember which, sorry) but like a more sad-sounding version. This might be the longest description I write for this post.
Dead Voxel - Did you know Minecraft doesn't actually use voxels, but rather regular polygon-based geometry? Also this one is pretty nice. Not much else to say.
Blind Spots - I keep getting distracted by the other stuff I'm doing but uhhh this one's fine I guess.
Flake - This one's nice! I like the clinking sounds. Along with the name, they kinda give it a "cold" feel. Though the weird squeaky/noises that start about halfway through kinda ruin it a bit. They sound like someone rubbing a balloon.
Moog City 2 - It's Moog City but different, possibly!
Concrete Halls - Wooough ominous, but in a way I like! Also the name makes me think of Control, and the overall sound reminds me a bit of the Portal 2 soundtrack.
Biome Fest - Genuinely can't think of anything to say.
Mutation - Yet another "Minecraft but different".
Haunt Muskie - Yes I think someone should. Anyway this one's nice! I like the fittingly haunting feel it has.
Warmth - Despite the name, this one's pretty ominous. Clanking and clunking in the dark in musical form. But then an organ-like drone starts up amid that, and gets a more desolate and sad feel, with wind blowing. Kinda has Stanley Parable vibes honestly? And then goes back to the weird noises stuff.
Floating Trees - Makes me think of art galleries and/or museum exhibitions for some reason? I like it.
Aria Math - Kinda reminds me of Bejewelled, even though I haven't played Bejewelled in years (I have it installed on my desktop I just. Haven't played it).
Kyoto - I like this! It's very whimsical, and kinda sounds like something I can imagine playing in the background of, like, a 2000s adapted-from-a-book kids' fantasy movie. Also I can't read the title without remembering the bit in Kill James Bond S3E15 where they talk about a character in a movie over-pronouncing Kyoto as "Ki'yoe-toe".
Ballad of the Cats - Oh this is another ominous one :( I guess it's fine when it picks up a bit, but I still don't like it as much as the other ones, though the bit towards the end is kinda nice.
Taswell - I like this one! Very "bwee-oo" and stuff. And then it turns into another nice piano-y and vworp-y track. 10/10, I like it. Also I think the ending is similar to a track from Volume Alpha, but I could be wrong?
Beginning 2 - Oh yay another "like another track but again" which I can't comment on the differences with because I can't remember the original.
Dreiton - Again, I swear this one is a remix of one from Volume Alpha, but also this might just be a song I recognise from the actual game? I like it though!
The End - Ok we're almost done, after this it's just the Music Disc tracks (apart from 13 and Cat, which are in Volume Alpha for some reason) and some bonus tracks that aren't on either album. I really like this one, like it fits with the premise of the End being a sort of shattered world. The glitchy stuttering sound at the beginning, the empty ambient droning, the distorted, distant-sounding segments of other songs, the way it builds climactically as the Minecraft motif starts and a harsh screeching starts up before descending into a low bass sound that slowly fades... it's so good.
Chirp - Hee hee silly! I like it, it's cheesy and sounds like something you'd listen to while relaxing on a mildly-cursed beach. And then it stops being that, and becomes something more adventurous-sounding and bloopy, and that's good too!
Wait - Yep that sounds like hold music. But like good hold music! I especially like the crunchy digital drums.
Mellohi - Again, very cheesy, but in a different way to Chirp; this sounds like something that would play in a detective movie parody or something.
Stal - Kind of has, like, spy- or heist-movie "sneaking around a place" vibes! But silly!!
Strad - I feel like this is the most Minecraft-y of the Music Discs, like it feels like it could just be random ambient music that plays while you're exploring or whatever.
Eleven - Yeah this isn't 11, this is Eleven; a nice, calm piece of piano music! I wish Music Disc 11 was this instead. Don't worry I cover the actual Disc 11 at the bottom of this post.
Ward - Kinda gives me the same vibes as, like, the games I remember playing online while at school. Like I can imagine this playing in a puzzle-platformer that I only ever manage to get halfway through, or maybe even actually finish.
Mall - I like this one but can't really say much about it, or why.
Blocks - See above.
Far - I like how this is both a Music Disc track and prominently contains a variation on the Minecraft motif.
Intro - I love how the last track on the original albums is technically the only one with actual human vocals, even if there aren't any proper words.
Other tracks (according to the wiki):
11 - No.
Boss - Weirdly serene for a boss theme.
Dragon Fish - Apparently this and the next two tracks are meant to play underwater, and I really like this one! It's another track that kinda reminds me of MNOG, but also maybe Spore?
Shuniji - This is a more calm underwater track, which I really like. Not much else to say.
Axolotl - And lastly, the final underwater track, which is another one that sort of builds up. Interestingly, it also predates the addition of Axolotls to the game by almost exactly two years.
Spotify wrapped is so funny because my playlist just goes from the most fucked up Chonny Jash song ever, high bpm, fifty different instruments at max volume, crazy filtered vocals, to thirty seconds of science and you take a moment and you’re like “hey wait did Spotify glitch out?” And before you complete the thought the most soft resonant piano notes from Minecraft volume alpha start playing.
Ah, Minecraft - Volume Alpha. The album you are. No sweeter sounds than the enchanting synths of the 'Subwoofer Lullaby' or the ghastly piano of 'Dry Hands'. And of course, 'Key', easily the most haunting of the three. This is decidedly a haunting album. I am haunted by the complicated memories of playing this game alone.
Most people wouldn't have been hearing this early Minecraft soundtrack if they were not playing alone. Most people, myself included, wouldn't even have known with what rhyme or reason it played in-game. It seemed random but felt so opportune. These delicate tracks would begin playing with no apparent stimulus, but in that moment it would feel so right. For me, these were either quiet weekend moments or late weeknight evening ones.
Make no mistake; I spent an incredible amount of time playing multiplayer Minecraft on arcade servers for quite literally days on end. I was on Skype like zombies on villagers. Still, there was a very special place in my heart for solo survival. It's all so bittersweet now; I reflect on the touching moments as well as the emotionally complex ones. On one hand, the experience of this game, this exceptionally crafted music... it was freeing. It allowed me to spend time with myself in a medium that felt safe and full of yet unimagined potential. On the other hand, the acute solitude sometimes became an unsettling aspect of the experience. Even the early Minecraft world renders were bigger than some of our biggest celestial bodies. That can be awfully lonely. And then the music would play. Suddenly, you're not just cutting birch wood surrounded by yellow flowers... you're also realizing that like this programmed day of 24000 ticks and the world file itself (not to mention the melodies behind it all), the real day just outside your window is so, too, transient. The sun will set, the weekend will end, the memories made in solo and together will just be memories. The homework comes back, the classes, the responsibility. And eventually that ended, too. I can't even go back to that bedroom where I spent so much time in dark caves looking for diamonds but only finding coal.
Maybe all that change would have been scarier without having Minecraft to teach me that such change is truly what we are here enjoy. Beauty is dynamic.
I haven't played much Minecraft recently; it has probably been around two years since I really sat down to enjoy the came. I think in good time I will come back to it. Despite how both the game and I have dramatically changed since those days of Minecraft - Volume Alpha, I am grateful that we are still able to have a connection.
