Check out this amazing twenty-minute live performance of the No Man’s Sky soundtrack by 65daysofstatic.
Say what you like about No Man’s Sky, its soundtrack – composed by 65daysofstatic – is a discordant, beautiful, and often inspiring, accompaniment to galaxy exploration.
65daysofstatic have now released a video featuring live performances of three tracks from the game; Red Parallax, Monolith and Asimov. The video was recorded last year at 2fly Studios, in the band’s home town of Sheffield.
The band’s history with No Man’s Sky goes right back to the game’s original trailer. Its use of Debutante was certainly one of the reasons that first reveal made such an immediate impact. Speaking about the 2fly Studios session, 65daysofstatic’s Paul Wolinski, said:
“This session was one of the first attempts at rethinking how to approach performing music that was written to be non-linear and lend itself to generative, infinite soundscapes rather than fixed compositions. We ultimately took different versions of these songs on tour. In the context of a usual 65 show it made more sense then to lock them into more predictable arrangements. However, we are in a studio environment in this video. Everything wired up to play just these specific songs. This provided an opportunity to create a system where every performance of a track would be unique.”
The first track is ‘live coded’ using open source software TidalCycles. Code is then typed, executed and transformed into musical patterns. These are fed back into modular synths and hacked electronic magnets, which rest on guitar strings, making them resonate. The subsequent two tracks add more live instruments back into the mix.
The release of the new video coincides with a sale on the vinyl and CD releases of the soundtrack. The score is available on double CD, double vinyl and a deluxe vinyl collector’s edition featuring 16 tracks across 4 LPs in a hard-case sleeve.
