Meaning and Music Without Lyrics

[Kontarek]

Nujabes has some pretty great instrumental hip-hop tracks, and even the ones that have other people rapping over them sound pretty good on their own.

Spoiler: Aruarian Dance

Spoiler: Another Reflection

Spoiler: Mystline

 

[BarbaricGoose]

I love Ludovico Einaudi. Minimalist composer. Makes some very wonderful songs.

Spoiler: There's also a lot of instrumental metal to enjoy.

 

[Yojimzo]

Might as well add my FFX nomination here as well

Spoiler

Nothing really needs said here.

 

[positiveParadox]

http://homestuck.bandcamp.com/track/crystamanthequins
http://homestuck.bandcamp.com/track/black-rose-green-sun
http://homestuck.bandcamp.com/track/at-the-price-of-oblivion
http://homestuck.bandcamp.com/track/english
http://homestuck.bandcamp.com/track/cascade
http://homestuck.bandcamp.com/track/savior-of-the-waking-world
http://homestuck.bandcamp.com/track/descend
http://homestuck.bandcamp.com/track/unite-synchronization
http://homestuck.bandcamp.com/track/fuchsia-ruler
http://homestuck.bandcamp.com/track/savior-of-the-dreaming-dead
http://homestuck.bandcamp.com/track/pumpkin-party-in-sea-hitlers-water-apocalypse
http://homestuck.bandcamp.com/track/derse-dreamers
http://homestuck.bandcamp.com/track/megalovania
http://homestuck.bandcamp.com/track/karkats-theme

Homestuck music means a lot to the fans. These are some of the most popular soundtracks with no words.

 

[someonehairy-ish]

All of Tosin's stuff with AAL is incredible but that one is my favourite of the more chill songs.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

One my most favourite musical scores. The shift in style is awesome, but it still very much sounds like the same track.

 

[Simple Bluff]

Boards of Canada are my faveorite instramentalists. This piece in paticular still makes me all mellow on the inside:

 

[sXeth]

Was gonna say Burial, but got ninjaed up there.

Stevie Ray Vaughan deserves some mention in addition.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEuKbE4MXPE

 

[DragonStorm247]

Anything by Two Steps From Hell. Almost all the music I listen to has no lyrics. I say if you feel like lyrics, go read poetry. When I want music, I go for an orchestral melody.

 

[Shadow-Phoenix]

This song in particular brought me to tears when it was used for a scene in the recent Evangelion 3.0 movie.

Spoiler

The moment where Kaworu decides to sacrifice his life to stop fourth impact while Shinji watches his only friend in his life have his entire head and body blown to pieces with blood splattering against the glass while shinji flinches from the horror.

 

[necromanzer52]

Sure, the who had some great instrumental pieces. Case in point:

 

[MisterGobbles]

Trent Reznor has always made wonderful instrumentals.

I especially love how he works in that theme to another song on that same album that I can't remember the name of now. The Fragile really is pretty much a masterpiece.

Boards of Canada are my faveorite instramentalists. This piece in paticular still makes me all mellow on the inside:

Anything relating to BoC is amazing. I'm only recently getting into them specifically, but the whole chillwave movement really has some great artists that manage to capture the same atmosphere. Tycho makes you feel like you're floating on a cloud, and Com Truise makes you feel like you're floating on the same cloud circa 1980.

 

[The Diabolical Biz]

Nujabes has some pretty great instrumental hip-hop tracks, and even the ones that have other people rapping over them sound pretty good on their own.

Spoiler: Aruarian Dance

Spoiler: Another Reflection

Spoiler: Mystline

Yes.

Spoiler: Also this

And anything composed by Chopin, for self explanatory reasons

 

[sammysoso]

Holst's The Planets never fails to charge me emotionally. Anything by John Williams is awesome. Along with tons of other composers (Wagner, Vaughn Williams, John Powell, James Newton Howard, Bear McCreary, Jerry Goldsmith, Ennio Morricone, All of the Newmans, Alan Silvestri, Alexandre Desplat, Michael Giacchino, Jack Wall, Sam Hulick, Brian Tyler.)

Although, IMO, the best orchestral work ever written is Howard Shore's Lord of the Rings.

 

[reyttm4]

Trent Reznor has always made wonderful instrumentals.

La Mer certainly has a lot of emotion to it. Trent announced he was on the verge of suicide when he wrote this song, so I guess it'd be kinda hard for a song like that not to have hella emotion.

The song off of the Braid soundtrack, Maenam, is awesome in terms of just the thick atmosphere it gives. The Tanpura(I think) that's played in it works beautifully.

 

[Schtoobs]

Isn't it one of the defining principles of art? It is what it is to you. Most examples here link to experiences had while hearing a particular piece of music. I'm not convinced that it's the music as much as people think. A good example of this for me is Vangelis' Blade Runner Soundtrack, I probably wouldn't listen to it if it didn't stir up memories of the films atmosphere. Infact, for a long time I didn't equate the atmospheric music with why the film had the impact it had on me. I needed the visuals to make the music mean something.

If anyone is into space sims I can recommend listening to the Blade Runner soundtrack while playing (if you like it obviously).

snip

Thanks for the Burial tip dude. I like what I'm hearing.

 

[Littaly]

It depends entirely on how you define "meaning". If you mean that it makes me feel a particular way or gives me a particular sensation, then sure, there is. There are pieces of music (instrumental or not) that I have come to associate with certain events in my life and certain emotions. And then there is music that just signals emotion without having to be associated with it, I'm sure everyone has heard a piece of music that fills them with serenity or unrest. Not to speak of all the memorable soundtracks that conjure up the emotion and thoughts you got from watching the movie (or playing the game).

But if you mean "meaning" in a much broader sense, then all music is meaningful to me. Music has meaning just by the nature of being music, it doesn't need to evoke any other emotion or convey a literal message in order to be worth listening to.

 

[NightmareExpress]

First name that popped into my head when thinking of that was "Joe Satriani", among a number of others.

Spoiler

Dramatic, conveys emotion and paints a picture. They could have Satriani make a new OST for Hokuto No Ken and I wouldn't have any complaints (granted the main theme stays the same). This man truly needs no words when he has six strings to tell a story.

 

[Cry Wolf]

I see a lot of soundtrack work here. I would certainly hope Soundtracks have meaning to you, as they're generally used as part of a narrative. It's almost cheating.

...and thats the main body of my post ninja'd already. Hats off to you sir, I'll just give my examp-

God damn it.