Musical Munchies

Undertale: uh oh stinky     The amazing 2015 game  Undertale  brings an interesting approach to videogame music. The game pays homage to classic JRPG games through various means. My favorite of these being the music. Almost every track in the game is made with electronic instruments, and some are even 8-bit tracks similar to the ones you would find on an old Pokemon game.     One of my favorite ways that the game sets itself apart from the competition is when you are on the genocide route.  This screen is where the magic happens. Upon seeing this, the music will change into an ominous distorted version of "Your Best Friend" and gives this really creepy and unsettling vibe. Some useful terms for this happen are music as an audience and music as a world builder.      I would argue that this serves both of those purposes. The music changes as a reaction to what the character has done, just like a win or lose song, except creepy. Also, the m...

 How James Cameron's Avatar does a disservice  The 2009 film may be the highest-grossing film's of all time, but the music in it is a big slap in the face to Xenomusicologists and in a roundabout way, music lovers all around. I recently wrote an essay analyzing the music of the Na'vi and I will spare you the gory details: 1. They had a huge budget and incredible world-building 2. The world-building even included creating new music that fits the canon 3. James Cameron didn't like any of it 4. ???? 5. Non-western music is treated with less respect than western neo-romantic music which sets a dangerous precedent for all non-western styles of music in our white-centric culture.