Cyberpunk

A lot of my foundational impressions were based on movie soundtracks of the likes of “Johnny Mnemonic”, “Strange Days”, “The Matrix”, and “The Crow”. In my college days, I was really into the industrial genre and the likes of NiN (the Broken/Fixed era), Front 242, Sister Machine Gun, God Lives Underwater, and Machines of Loving Grace. Then I got into EDM for a while, as a lot of the software devs I lived and worked with were into that genre.

These days, I’ve been getting into darkwave and synthwave. I’m a big fan of our very own @revengeday@dataterm.digital, Dance With The Dead, Extra Terra, Neon Nox, Lazerpunk, and DreamReaper to name a few.

I hope this is not shameless, because I am a musician myself. But I try to implement the cyberpunk vibe in my music. For me cyberpunk as music is always a mixture of dirty sounds, darkness, and the thought of losing everything. That's what I've tried to do with a few EPs and tracks.

Here is a small selection that cyberpunks found to be good:

• https://revenge.day/discography/sandevistan
• https://revenge.day/discography/bakeneko
• https://revenge.day/discography/skinwatch
• https://revenge.day/discography/corpo-meltdown

In general, techno, neurofunk, dirty punk-rock is cyberpunk for me.

I love Perturbators music

Feels like cyberpunk dystopia jams

Absolutely going to also say the Industrial genre as others have said, that's my go to. Bands like Nine Inch Nails, Author & Punisher, Skinny Puppy, 3TEETH, Ramstein, early Ministry and My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult , Lead Into Gold, Venus in Aries, Gary Numan. All of these get my blood pumping and make me want to move in the dystopian hellscape we live in that's moving towards cyberpunk every day.

Another genre I feel like really has a Cyberpunk vibe is early Trip-hop, specifically Massive Attack.

Also some electronic bands, like The Glitch Mob, Danger, and The Prodigy give me that same cyberpunk energy.

Finally an offshoot of the Industrial and punk genres, EBM, Electronic Body Music, with it's grinding melodies and it's pounding beat give me the cyberpunk vibe. Example bands that I personally like are Nitzer Ebb and Street Fever.

I'd recommend maybe checking out some post-industrial bands like Skinny Puppy or Front Line Assembly. Might be the vibe you're looking for.

Here are a couple of examples: Skiny Puppy - "Testure" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLm9mhh7gvg

Front Line Assembly - "Mindphaser" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWjBPIbJMzY

Check out Amaranthe - Digital World!

Edit: I was looking for new music the other day and came across this gem. Now I'm addicted to the whole album (but I'm not sure if it's all like what you're looking for, it's mostly heavy metal I think? I'm not good with genre names)

Gunship rules! If you're looking for low orbit cyberpunk God is an Astronaut. I really liked the Americana music in Hardspace: Shipbreaker but that's kind of proto cyberpunk.

There's always post rock staples like Godspeed You Black Emperor for more of a desolate abandoned town on the outside of the megalopolis.

Honorable mention - the soundtrack to Fight Club exudes the same corporate desperation, without the cyber elements.

Well my first experiences into Cyberpunk were through videogames, which is what set up my expectations of what "Cyberpunk" is pretty much (though I didn't even know the term at the time!) so I'll nerd out about them a bit. Most of my other Cyberpunk media has been through reading books so I don't have much music to associate with them then to change those expectations either. Video game music tends to be a bit different since it normally focuses more on being ambient the majority of the time, but it's pretty much what's in my mind now.

Deus Ex was my first I think and the music is quite engrained into my mind. Example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgIE6Pb_MFE I think it blends a sorta ambient feeling before going into a more aggressive tone later into the song.

Another game's whose music comes to mind right away is Uplink. I'm not sure if Uplink is actually "Cyberpunk" but it comes very close at the least if not. Hacker working outside of the law, with the possibility of working with a techno-anarchist group to destroy the internet set in the future (2010!!). But yea the music is what comes to mind when I think Cyberpunk hacker for me.

Of course if I talk about Cyberpunk music in games I have to talk about VA-11 Hall-A (I'll find any excuse to). The soundtrack here is a bit different, since the bar is more of a safe space from how messed up the world is for its patrons and I think that plays into the music Welcome to VA-11 Hall-A is a pretty "cozy" song, still has that futuristic vibe to it, but there's nothing really aggressive about it. Though it does also mix it up a bit in other songs Digital Drive has the more aggressive side and feels more "classic cyberpunk" to me but also still blends back into that "coziness" at parts.

Might as well finish off by talking about Cyberpunk 2077 a little since I loved that soundtrack too. Rebel Path was a great song which I think has the rage and aggressive you mention a bit. Then you have Outside No More which does pretty much the opposite and might not be as fitting, but I like the song so I'm putting it here anyway!

Probably biased as it's what's in my playlist rn, but in my opinion, witchhouse /glitchcore / experimental hip hop style stuff. Kind of on the nose but electropunk

Darkwave Sabbat by siouxxie sixxsta

Violent by carolesdaughter

Holes by CRIM3S

Quartz by IC3PEAK

Make You Cry - IC3PEAK

Either that or just full force corporation made music like the Wendy's Hip-hop mixtape

I listen to all kinds of music but when I code it's always dream pop: Slowdive, Majesty Crush, POiSON GiRLFRiEND, 800 Cherries, Takako Minekawa, there are so many that I love.

I have always been partial to the Ghost in the Shell soundtrack. The intro chant from the 1995 movie has a more ethnic vibe as well, which is quite cool and a nice change of pace from the usual techno. The SAC series soundtrack is quite nice and varied also.

Of course, CP2077 has some real bangers.. I'd probably want a mix of music to suit the setting.

Megadrive - Acid Spit <3