Even knowing that, this was something of an inundation. It started with Edward.
Edward played something at his store opening the night previous (far too few pictures upcoming) that was beyond wonderful, I thought. But I couldn't track it down. Turns out it was from a mention on the Steampunk Workshop site, and can be downloaded--it's called "Attack of the Steampunks".
While I was reading that, I was exploring a link I'd found the night before and never had time to read--a group of other folks over in the Steampunk Magazine forums discussing this whole ongoing thing. From what is steampunk music to individual songs to whole bands, they talked about it all.
carpejugulum of the Exoskeleton Cabaret said this:
Here's a setlist for a TeaParty I DJed--wide variety of tracks and genres there:
Chris Vrenna - Flying on the Wings of Steam (Remix)
The Fall - Spoilt Victorian Child
Alan Moore and Tim Perkins - Opium Nights (Sell Me More, Sell Me More) [I could find nothing even remotely referring to lyrics for this song, let alone the song itself]
Evestus - Jetflight Part 2 - Bad Trip [Couldn't find this song either, but I found Evestus' YouTube channel]
Blackbird RAUM - Honey in the Hair [Again, couldn't find that song on YouTube, but I did find their section of Last.fm and a page with music samples.]
Johnny Hollow - Stolen
Rasputina - Antique High Heel Red Doll Shoes
A Midnight Choir - The Drunken Elephant March [Couldn't find it, more's the pity because it sounded fun--but how about Amsterdam Stranded instead?]
Maduro - Nachtmahr [Couldn't find this song but found a lot of Nachtmahr--the thing is, though, if Mein Name is any indication, they aren't steampunk in the least. I also found a mention of Madura, in specific, Madura Jilla which seems a slightly electrocharged Bollywood number...and finally, after two days of searching, Maduro's webpage, which--even though I can't find even a single short clip, does sound like more of what we're after.]
This Morn' Omina - Epoch
Hybrid - Finished Symphony (Hybrid's Echoplex Mix Radio
Edit)
Assemblage 23 - Decades (V2) [Couldn't find version two, but found this version]
Aphex Twin - Nannou
Michael Moorcock's Deep Fix - Time Centre [Couldn't find it, but I found a song called Octopus, and Veteran of the Psychic Wars by Blue Oyster Cult.]
Magpie - Oil and Hell in the Sky (vocal) [I could find nothing for this either, but a net search for lyrics turned up a whole separate list.]
From "saellys" in a later comment comes this:
Bands and Artists
Midlake - A decidedly anachronistic band. Their latest album, The Trials of Van Occupanther, has several tracks that could be considered steampunk: "Roscoe" is a delicious bit of vintage-sounding rock and "Young Bride" could suit a more mellow affair. Their debut Bamnan and Slivercork is a lot more eccentric and as a whole I think it better fits the steampunk aesthetic.
Jonny Greenwood - Radiohead's lead guitarist is also the BBC's composer-in-residence and has written the scores for Bodysong and There Will Be Blood. His all-instrumental work is tremendous; if "Clockwork Tin Soldiers" on Bodysong doesn't convince you, track down one of his compositions for theremin.
Murder By Death - When I think of steampunk, I think of Victorian London, as I'm sure many others do. Strangely, even though I consider Murder By Death a very American-sounding band (I can't quantify that assertion at all; my mind just draws these connections for no reason), I can not listen to In Bocca Al Lupo without associating it automatically with steampunk. Their sound is modern, and at times surprisingly heavy, but their lyrics are brothels and coal mines and pirate ships and stuff.
Songs
"When Under Ether," PJ Harvey - When I was writing a novel called Aether, this was one of the tracks on my writing mix. Hah, get it? Er, anyway, it's a great song--very stark, with just piano and some keening, wavery vocals. Not at all what I'd come to expect from Ms. Harvey.
"Many Funerals," Eisley - The quintessential street urchin song.
"The Shape of Things to Come," Bear McCreary - This is actually from the Battlestar Galactica season one soundtrack, but it's way too grandiose to be confined to conventional science fiction. This is zeppelin music.
Other bands that were mentioned: The Curse is Cast, the Dead Man Street Orchestra, the Dust Collectors, Tom Waits (specifically Going Out West, Chocolate Jesus, plus I'd also toss in Innocent When You Dream. Rain Dogs, Tom Traubert's Blues and Cold Cold Ground. Guess I must be a fan, too), 16 Horsepower (specifically their songs Pour Mouth, Cinder Alley, Haw, and I'd also throw in Sinnerman), Hillstomp (specifics: John Henry and Black Mattie), Morphine (listed as "not steampunk" but relevant for songs like Buena and Cure for Pain), Joy Electric (mainly due to their song on Nikola Tesla), Dr. Steel, Camper van Beethoven, Freur (notably for "Steam Machine", a song I couldn't find, but I did find "Doot Doot" and "Riders in the Night" from them, and "Steam Machine" from Daft Punk, amusingly enough), Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (notably for Navigation, though it's also fun to toss in lliberator's Bride of Frankenstein megamix), In the Nursery, the Screaming Trees, Queen Adreena, Zoe Keating and Julia Kent, Imogen Heap, Momus, The Band of Holy Joy, The Scarring Party, The Sisters of Mercy (strangely, for Lucretia, My Reflection), Munly & the Lee Lewis Harlots, Nine Black Alps, The Jesus & Mary Chain, Bjork (I would have linked one more 'steampunk', per se, like this one, but..."All is Full of Love" is just so stunning), Oingo Boingo, Brian Eno & John Cale, Massive Attack, The Cure, The Weather Inside, VAST, Thomas Dolby, Hooverphonic, Sarah Brightman, Suzanne Vega, Human Drama, Audra, Wolfsheim, Mark Nicholas, Soul Whirling Somewhere, the Two Man Gentlemen Band, Vagabond Opera, Curtis Eller, Ben Houge, Beat Circus, Asylum Street Spanker, That One Guy, the Tiger Lillies, Einstürzende Neubauten, Bardoseneticcube, Hermetique (though I'm not sure if that's a film, a soundtrack, or a recording company), Phantom Buffalo, They Might Be Giants...and I'm not even through the first thread yet.
And that is when I realized that I am going to have to come back to many, many, many of these, and decide for myself for and against, because some of these groups hit me as very nearly anti-steampunk in all ways. So...that is that, and I stop here.
Besides, this has taken me nearly two days to get this far!
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