Before I begin this post, I have to forewarn you: everything you are about to read could lead to you misplacing countless hours of your life. At first it would seem like you were relegating those precious hours to 'entertainment,' or 'playing a laid back game to relax.' And then, suddenly one Sunday afternoon while a fierce autumn shower pelts the outside of your home, the thick rivulets of rain collecting on the outside of the window letting the only natural light into your techie-cave, you will realize that you have become one of these people. Instead of shuddering in horror, mourning the loss of more productive time than such famous and brilliant people as John Keats had in their entire life, you will instead think "Just need to finish off the west tower of my castle!"
Minecraft is not all obsession and cubes. No, no. The additional layer, the necessary second element, is music composed for the game by C418. He, or they--I'm not entirely sure--is a brilliant electronica artist. His compositions range from the subtle, mind-numbing ambient works that add profound meaning to staring into an empty room or into a dark, cloudy night sky, to playfully upbeat melodies, like this.
And because it is impossible to look up one thing on the internet and only learn about the specific piece of information you intended to find, I couldn't help but discover an incredible composer. C418 had a blog post on his website talking about the works of Steve Reich. Specifically his dabbling in the area of 'techno music to be played by people,' or however else you might try to define it. Think a techno song--repetitive, simple, deriving its power and musicality from the addition and modulation of layer upon layer of sound--performed live on stage by people playing real instruments. Eighteen of them, in fact.
It is an overwhelmingly interesting thing to see.
Does Steve Reich have anything to do with Minecraft? Only if you count bizarre, internet correlations. But that's what I love doing: delving into one thing only to discover another, often more interesting thing than the first. Speaking of which, this is awesome:
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