Author: mjm8542

Rising Sea Levels, a Climate Change Issue

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Climate change is an issue that is most commonly known for its increasing global temperatures, but other possibly more detrimental side effects such as rising sea levels, an increase in droughts and heatwaves, and stronger hurricanes are just as possible. Rising sea levels in particular is a concerning issue because of how much of the population lives on or near the coast. About 40% of the world’s population lives within 100 kilometers of the coast, and about 30% of the U.S. population lives in coastline counties.*

Yet again though, like with a lot of political issues, the argument does not reside within the actual intricacies of the problem itself, but whether or not the problem is worth worrying about right now. Democrats believe that rising sea levels is a serious issue that we should address as soon as possible, whereas Republicans believe that there are other more important issues worth worrying about.

A potential scenario of future sea level rise in South Beach, Miami, Florida, with a global temperature rise of 2C.
Potential scenario of what rising sea levels would look like in Miami.**

The almost unanimous decision amongst climate scientists is that climate change is an issue that needed addressing years ago. With rising sea levels, on the other hand, it is a problem with many solutions that all have completely different timeframes. For example, a solution such as vacating the entire coastal population would obviously be the best in terms of being the safest, but would most likely require decades of planning and decades of enacting the evacuation. A solution such as making a city flood-proof seems much more feasible and realistic but would have its own problems.

A few years ago, a hearing from the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee was held to discuss the future of rising sea levels, the severity of it, and how to deal with it.*** Chairman Bingaman had hoped that the hearing would incite a new national conversation about climate change and the problems associated with it, but he said that instead it only highlighted the partisan divide on the issue. The hearing had 5 Democrats in attendance and just 1 Republican in attendance showing the priorities of each party. Climate Central’s Ben Strauss believes that coastal counties are already dealing with the effects of rising sea levels and that the federal government should “support adaptation and mitigation efforts.”***

Chairman Bingaman***

Not only is the coast home to around 30% of the U.S.’s population, but it is also home to over 300 energy facilities that remain less than 4 feet above sea level and over 100 nuclear power plants. Flooding would be disastrous to the U.S.’s sources of energy.

Although the U.S. in the past few years has managed to come together in agreement on the harsh reality of climate change, proposing actual solutions to the effects of climate change is another thing. Similar to most of the problems in our country, legislation tends to get held up in the process due to this partisan divide.

Understandably, Republicans would be opposed to a coastal evacuation because of its exuberant cost and insane timeframe. A solution that both parties would be more likely to agree on would be making coastal counties and cities flood-proof. For example, in Jacksonville, their current infrastructure is not designed to withstand a four-foot flood, which is extremely likely to happen within the next 20 years.

The most important thing that happens within the coming years, though, is that the U.S. government comes to a consensus on the proper legislation to pass. Too much time is spent by each party attempting to get solely what they want. Climate change and its catastrophic effects aren’t waiting for anyone.

 

*Bureau, U.S. Census. “94.7M Americans Live in Coastline Regions.” The United States Census Bureau, August 18, 2020. https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2019/07/millions-of-americans-live-coastline-regions.html#:~:text=About%2094.7%20million%20people%2C%20or,a%2015.3%25%20growth%20since%202000.
**“Sea Levels Set to Keep Rising for Centuries Even If Emissions Targets Met.” The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, November 6, 2019. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/nov/06/sea-level-rise-centuries-climate-crisis.
***“Surging Seas Sea Level Rise Analysis by Climate Central.” Senate Hearing Focuses on Threat of Sea Level Rise | Surging Seas: Sea level rise analysis by Climate Central. Accessed April 22, 2021. https://sealevel.climatecentral.org/news/senate-climate-change-hearing-focuses-on-sea-level-rise/.

Electronic Records

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Velocity : Design : Comfort

Sweet Trip

Cover art for Velocity : Design : Comfort by Sweet Trip

Sweet Trip is an electronics group that helped to revive the glitch pop genre with their seminal release Velocity : Design : Comfort. VDC is the perfect combination of well-produced IDM and melodic pop, and the album cover perfectly reflects this. Not only do they perfectly combine melodic pop and IDM, but they also borrow elements such as guitar walls and blown out drums from shoegaze.

drukqs

Aphex Twin

Cover art for drukqs by Aphex Twin

Aphex Twin is possibly the most important electronic artist of our lifetime. With every release, he redefines the genre and has inspired many advances in IDM. drukqs is probably Aphex’s most defining release featuring cluttered and chaotic tracks such as “Vordhosbn” and acoustic piano tracks with an emphasis on melody such as “Avril 14th.” The production on this record sounds extremely crisp and precise. Although the flow between each track feels sometimes abrupt, you will hardly notice the transitions as this record puts you in a deep trance.

Blade Runner

Vangelis

Blade Runner - Cover art

The Blade Runner OST is probably my favorite soundtrack of all time. Each song feels so immersive and atmospheric. Most soundtracks have trouble being relevant outside of the film itself, but the Blade Runner OST could stand strong as its own release. Blade Runner is always praised for being such a realistic depiction of the possible dystopian future: depressive, hopeless, yet still technologically advanced. The soundtrack is a perfect representation of this dystopian nightmare.

Violator

Depeche Mode

Violator - Cover art

Depeche Mode’s Violator is the antithesis to Sweet Trip’s Velocity : Design : Comfort. While still being glitch-pop, Violator leaks into the darkwave area with its more gloomy atmosphere and somber nature. The tracks found in Violator feel a little more radio-friendly and rely heavily on classical song structure.

Discovery

Daft Punk

Discovery - Cover art

The iconic duo Daft Punk is often credited with bringing the electronic genre to the mainstream. Their seminal album Discovery is one of the most important electronic and house records of this century and still remains highly relevant today, even in the mainstream. Songs like “One More Time,” “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger” and “Digital Love” are the peak of the house genre because they nail the energetic and party characteristics so well.

Selected Ambient Works Volume II

Aphex Twin

Selected Ambient Works Volume II - Cover art

Most electronic music is known for being high-energy and upbeat, but Selected Ambient Works Volume II diverges as far from that as possible. Unlike his other albums, Aphex Twin dives full fledge into ambient music and manages to create music that is just as hypnotic yet meditative and melancholic.

 

Sufjan Stevens

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Sufjan Stevens is an artist who never ceases to amaze me. His multi-instrumental ability and talent in creating immense orchestrational pieces are matched by very few. He has released 8 studio albums and has received multiple nominations for academy awards and Grammys.

Illinois

Sufjan Stevens: Illinois Album Review | Pitchfork

The fifth studio album from Sufjan Stevens was released in 2005 and quickly grew in popularity, scoring many spots on popular music magazines’ best of the decade list. Considered by most to be Sufjan’s most consistent and put-together release, Illinois is a concept album featuring allusions to people, places, and events relating to the state of Illinois. The album features grand orchestral arrangements and long-winded songs with hilariously long names such as “Come On! Feel the Illinoise! (Part I: The World’s Columbian Exposition – Part II: Carl Sandburg Visits Me in a Dream).” Each song is accompanied by a choir and string quartet to give off this lush and melodic feel. “John Wayne Gacy, Jr.”, a high point on the album, tells the story of a serial killer born in Illinois who murdered and sexually assaulted at least 33 young men and hid 26 of the bodies in the crawl space of his home. The chill and pleasant nature of the instrumentals contradicts the grotesque story to create an unsettling and eerie atmosphere.

And in my best behavior
I am really just like him
Look beneath the floor boards
For the secrets I have hid

Carrie & Lowell

Sufjan Stevens: Carrie & Lowell Album Review | Pitchfork

Carrie & Lowell was released 10 years later in 2015. Carrie & Lowell is essentially Sufjan’s autobiography depicting his life from childhood while focusing on the relationship with his parents, Carrie and Lowell, specifically his mother Carrie. Sufjan had a difficult relationship with his mother, who neglected Sufjan from a young age and then proceeded to pass away. The album will tear a hole in your heart with its seemingly hopeless and melancholic track list. The record features some of Sufjan’s rawest and emotional songs yet from “Fourth of July” which plays out a conversation between him and his mother as she was dying in the hospital to “No Shade in the Shadow of the Cross” which depicts Sufjan’s descent into a self-destructive craze after her death. The ending track, “Blue Bucket of Gold” leaves the listener on a rather open note, mainly because Sufjan did not know how to end such an album. In a way, Carrie & Lowell is Sufjan’s final goodbye to his mother and he sums up his thoughts about the final track by saying “I quit playing piano and vocals and just stopped. I wanted to surrender her to the beyond with noises that sound bigger than just me.”

“Did you get enough love, my little dove?
Why do you cry?
And I’m sorry I left, but it was for the best
Though it never felt right

Bob Dylan

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Bob Dylan, born Robert Zimmerman, is an American singer-songwriter who dominated the folk music scene for the entirety of the 1960s and a large portion of the 70s. Dylan has released 39 studio albums and sold more than 100 million records in his lifetime. He is also the first modern musician to win the Nobel Prize in Literature and was awarded it in 2016 for “having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition.” His more popular albums Highway 61 Revisited, Blonde on Blonde, and Blood on the Tracks are deemed as eternal classics and have inspired countless artists.

Highway 61 Revisited

Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisited - Amazon.com Music

Highway 61 Revisited is deemed by many to be Dylan’s most cohesive and technical album. On tracks like “Like a Rolling Stone,” “Ballad of a Thin Man, and “Desolation Row” we can see Dylan’s versatility and critically acclaimed songwriting come to light. In Highway 61 Revisited, Bob Dylan reinvented folk music graduating from his days of acoustic guitar and utilizing the extensive range of the harmonica and slide whistle. “Like a Rolling Stone” is possibly Dylan’s most well-produced and best work to date. The song is a perfect blend of raw acoustics, Dylan’s poetic writing, and filling vocal performance.

How does it feel?
How does it feel?
To hang on your own
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?

Blonde on Blonde

Blonde on Blonde - Wikipedia

Blonde on Blonde is Dylan’s follow-up double album to Highway 61 Revisited and features lengthier ballads such as “Visions of Johanna” which Dylan is more known for. If Highway 61 Revisited is Dylan’s best clean and cohesive record, then Blonde on Blonde is Dylan’s best messy and loose record. From Dylan’s most heartfelt lovesong “I Want You” to the sporadic and long-winded “Visions of Johanna,” Blonde on Blonde features Dylan’s most creative and intricate melodies to date. Although Dylan was popular years before the release of Blonde on Blonde, this double record cemented Dylan as a popular figure much more than a singer-songwriter. Bob Dylan was a poet of the people. Becoming popular during the Cold War and the height of the Vietnam War, Dylan represented world-changing, civil rights, and American freedom.

Well, they’ll stone you when you are all alone
They’ll stone you when you are walking home
They’ll stone you and then say they’re all brave
They’ll stone you when you’re sent down in your grave

Blood on the Tracks

Bob Dylan - Blood on the Tracks - Amazon.com Music

Bob Dylan’s loneliest and most melancholic record is Blood on the Tracks. Released 10 years after his seminal Highway 61 Revisited and recorded during the earlier stages of Dylan’s crumbling marriage with Sara Dylan, Blood on the Tracks is the breakup album to end all breakup albums. Despite sharing similarities to Highway 61 Revisited with the grand and stellar opening song “Tangled Up in Blue,” Blood on the Tracks quickly diverges from Dylan’s previous sarcastic and romantic nature and delves into the darker side of his emotions. Dylan appears more genuine and human than his previous records on the heart-wrenching “Simple Twist of Fate” and “Shelter From the Storm.” Yet again, it feels as if Bob Dylan’s creativity never ceases to run dry with new and graceful melodies and peculiar arrangements.

If I could only turn back the clock
To when God and her were born
“Come in,” she said, “I’ll give ya
Shelter from the storm”

2020

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Nobody knew what the music scene would look like last year due to the unfortunate introduction of Covid-19 and quarantining into our lives, but to a lot of people’s surprise, many artists were able to release full-length albums with no problems. In this post, I will be mentioning some of my favorite records from 2020.

アダンの風 (Windswept Adan)

Ichiko Aoba

Windswept Adan | Ichiko Aoba

Windswept Adan is the sixth studio album from female Japanese artist Ichiko Aoba. The album falls heavily on the chamber folk and singer/songwriter genres while bleeding into ambient as well. Each song feels like a deep dive into some unforeseen area of nature. Ichiko’s voice is a blending of lush and ethereal qualities, and the instrumentality compliments it nicely by being extremely minimal and unobtrusive.

Microphones in 2020

The Microphones

Microphones in 2020 | the Microphones | Mount Eerie

The Microphones are probably the best group to have adjusted to the nature of the pandemic media-wise. Microphones in 2020  was released as a live-stream on YouTube with thousands of people tuning in. It was unannounced and appeared out of nowhere. The release isn’t your typical album. It only features one song that’s around 40 minutes long and is accompanied by a video of Phil Elverum, the lead vocalist, flipping through some photos of his life. As is most of their music, the record is melancholic and gloomy. Phil’s worn-out vocals, raw acoustic guitar, and pounding drums create a hypnotic ambiance.

Charmed

DJ Sabrina the Teenage DJ

Charmed | DJ Sabrina The Teenage DJ

Despite the group’s poor taste in album covers, Charmed is an exceptional House album that perfectly encapsulates the genre. DJ Sabrina the Teenage DJ is a UK group that focuses on Electronic Dance Music, specifically a genre called House. The album is an insane 3 hours long, but given the right mood and atmosphere, this record will hold you in a deep trance as 3 hours speed by. For me, this album is sort of an eye-roll because a lot of the songs feature samples from the tv show Sabrina the Teenage Witch which is where they get their name from, and the album artwork does not help at all. Due to that, Charmed feels like a record stuck in time from the late 90s to the early 2000s, which in combination with the record’s discoey nature makes for an interesting and fun experience.

Fetch the Bolt Cutters

Fiona Apple

Fetch the Bolt Cutters - Wikipedia

Despite beginning her music career in 1996, this is only the fifth album to be released from critically acclaimed artist Fiona Apple. Fetch the Bolt Cutters is a hectic dive into the mind of one of Art Pop’s most groundbreaking artists. The album carefully blends scattering percussion, deep and strong vocals, and soft basslines. Due to Fiona’s critically acclaimed nature, many people had very high expectations for Fetch the Boltcutters and were disappointed to find out that the record was not too similar to her previous and more popular releases.

Issue Brief

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Reducing CO2 Emissions from Major Corporations

The Issue

The issue of climate change is best described as  “the ‘greenhouse effect’ — warming that results when the atmosphere traps heat radiating from Earth toward space” (Nasa). Major corporations/companies are responsible for over half of greenhouse gas emissions. “According to the CDP, between 1988 and 2015, 100 companies were responsible for 71% of global GHG emissions” (Active Sustainability). Although there is definitely a large percentage of GHG emissions that major corporations are responsible for, these top 100 companies clearly have a much larger impact than your average person. If we were able to better regulate these companies and decrease their GHG emissions, then we would greatly decrease the rate at which climate change is occurring.

How is it an Intervention in a Policy Discussion?

Many policies have been considered in regards to decreasing the GHG or CO2 emissions of these major corporations. One possible policy has been to distribute a carbon tax, which essentially puts a price on their carbon emissions, forcing them to pay a price based on the size of their Co2 emissions. Another possible policy has been to put a strict cap on CO2 emissions, not allowing them to produce more than a specific amount of CO2. The issue brief will be exploring these possible policies and deciding which one might be the most effective at dealing with the issue.

Addressing the Exigence and Rhetorical Solution

The issue brief will address the exigence by describing how the issue has come to fruition, what is at stake, and the urgency of the timeframe. We are currently at a very fragile point in time because there has been some research that has decided that the “point of no return” is upon us. Meaning that the time to act has already occurred, and now temperatures might continue to rise despite our efforts. This does not mean anything we do now is futile. Anything that can be done to halt the emission of CO2 will help to decrease the rate at which climate change will occur. The best time to address climate change was 100 years, and the second-best time is now.

The Cause

The cause of this can be considered an intentional one. The existence of climate change was first discovered towards the end of the 19th century and towards the end of the 20th and the entirety of the 21st century, major corporations were fully aware of the negative effects that their greenhouse gas emissions were leaving on the planet. Since there were had been no repercussions for the large majority of the 20th century, these major corporations were able to produce these greenhouse gases knowingly without any negative economic or social consequences on their business. A recent investigation even found that Exxon, an American multinational oil and gas corporation, was aware of climate change as early as 1977, but refused to publicly acknowledge the existence for the coming decades. Exxon mobile is now the 4th largest producer of greenhouse gas emissions at a whopping 3.09% of total emissions from 1965 to 2017.

Policy Instruments

The policy instruments that I will be exploring in the issue brief will mainly include mandates, inducements, and system changes with a slightly smaller emphasis on system changes. Mandates might be things such as a carbon tax or a CO2 emissions cap, which were discussed earlier. Inducements could include policies that promote the use of clean energy or production without the emission of CO2 through means such as subsidies. An example of a system change might be giving less power to these companies. Companies with large sums of income are able to give this money to politicians in the form of lobbying, which is very similar to bribery. Lobbying is currently legal in the U.S., so this gives major corporations a huge advantage when wanting to pass their own agenda.

David Bowie’s Final Album ★

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David Bowie - Blackstar - Amazon.com Music

David Bowie is considered by some to be the best solo artist to ever have lived. Up until his death, he had released 27 full-length studio albums. Of those 27, 9 of them received platinum album certifications in the UK and it is estimated that he has sold over 100 million records worldwide during his lifetime. Two days before his death on January 8, 2016, David Bowie released his 27th and final studio album, ★ (Blackstar). The album is a chilling farewell to David Bowie and his extremely influential legacy.

The album diverts away from Bowie’s normal glam rock/pop rock attitude into a much darker and melancholic art rockier area. Bowie uses the darker elements of rock and even jazz to help tell the stories of christianity’s Lazarus on “Lazarus” and explain his emotions during the final months of his life on “I Can’t Give Everything Away”. “Lazarus” was originally written for an eponymous off-Broadway production based on the novel The Man Who Fell to Earth by Walter Tevis. The song explores the themes of mortality and is seen as “a condensation of the human narrative, birth, death, into a single song.” The closing track off the album, “I Can’t Give Everything Away” is Bowie’s final farewell to us.

Seeing more and feeling less
Saying no but meaning yes
This is all I ever meant
That’s the message that I sent

David Bowie’s fight with liver cancer over the years has left him wiser (“seeing more”), yet feeling less as the cancer slowly tears away at him. The last three lines can be interpreted through Bowie’s own perspective as his whole life had been saying no through his characters in the past, such as Ziggy Stardust, when really trying to say something contradictory to the character often aimed at the music industry.

Bowie’s vocals on the record sound worn out and tired, probably due to his ever-growing weakness, but also to show that he knows this is the end and soon he will be gone. The instrumentals and the vocals work much better knowing the context of his years battling cancer and his sad, yet appropriate death following the release of ★. Ultimately, David Bowie was not ready to leave. The chorus on “I Can’t Give Everything Away” shows him constantly repeating “I can’t give everything away” possibly meaning that he regrets not being able to give more music to the world knowing he will soon die. ★ is a fitting farewell to one of the world’s greatest rock stars.

Reflection of Deliberation

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Gastil’s Deliberative Criteria

Create a solid information base – Discuss personal and emotional experiences, as well as known facts.

During our deliberation, I think we discussed both personal and emotional experiences and known facts, but I think the deliberation was dominated by the personal and emotional experiences. Since genetic engineering is a relatively new technology, most of the class was not too aware of its inner workings and thus were unable to provide any sort of factual knowledge on the issue. Since it is a new technology, I think people could have mentioned times in the past where new technology similar to genetic engineering proposed itself and how that affected society. The first deliberation, the war on drugs one, had a good opportunity to discuss the personal experiences because most college students have some experience with drugs, but it seemed many did not want to talk about their own experiences, but only others. That may be because nobody actually has their own experiences, but it could also be because people were scared to talk.

Identify broad range of solutions – Brainstorm a wide variety of ways to address the problem.

It seems like in our deliberation, we did not explore every possible solution, but every possible solution would fall into one of our solutions. I think this worked partly in our favor and partly against our favor. For one, this is a good way to handle a deliberation because it allows the group to discuss almost every area of the topic. On the other hand, the solution is very broad, which might lead the group to discuss on broader terms and forgetting about specific cases.

Make the best decision possible – Update your own opinion in light of what you have learned. No joint decision need be reached.

As far as myself goes, I am probably a little more biased towards one of the options, so some of the ideas from the other solutions didn’t appeal to me as much, even though the group, in general, might have deemed them the best. I think the class, in general, managed to bounce off of each other’s opinions and ideas pretty well, and most people were eager to have their minds changed. During the third deliberation, the one that discusses the idea of paying college athletes, it seemed that a lot of people did not bound off of each other’s opinions that well, and instead, people were very adamant about their own position.

Adequately distribute speaking opportunities – Take turns in conversation or take other action to ensure a balanced conversation.

I really don’t think there was a problem with distributing speaking opportunities at all. Everyone was very respectful during the deliberation. Although it would have been nice if it wasn’t usually the same people talking, I think we had a good spread of different people providing their thoughts. It did not feel as if one or two people were dominating the conversation.

Ensure mutual comprehension – Speak clearly to each other and ask for clarification when confused.

For the majority of the deliberation, people worded their ideas and opinions in a concise and easy-to-understand fashion. Although, as one would expect, asking college students to speak on the spot might not allow for the best exchange of ideas. There were moments where I think I failed to understand some others’ opinions, but that could also have been just me. I think it’s hard to know when an idea might need some clarification because it is highly dependent on the person. For example, one of the approach leaders might completely understand the person’s opinion and not need clarification, but other people in the group might need that clarification. I know that during the first deliberation, one of the other students was attempting to explain their idea of why the war on drugs could be an issue for some minority, and I got lost along the way, and then the rest of that specific conversation went in and out my head.

Respect other participants – Presume that other participants are honest and well intentioned. Acknowledge their unique life experiences and perspectives.

I think this criterion mostly showed up during the personal stake section of the deliberation. In that section, we were able to see how the topic of genetic engineering had affected their own lives or how they have thought about genetic engineering in the past. It gave the audience and the deliberation leaders a better understanding of the group’s understandings of the issue and the person’s own opinion on the issue. This allowed others to respect each other, knowing that they are human as well, with their own life experiences and perspectives.

Alternative Rock

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Alternative rock is probably the most popular genre to come out of the 1990s and remains incredibly popular to this day. Nirvana, The Smashing Pumpkins, and Weezer are a few of the groups that helped lead the alternative rock boom of the 90s. It has remained one of the most influential genres in my music taste and has remained one of my favorite genres to this day. In this post, I am going to describe to you a few of my favorite alternative rock albums.

Built to Spill: Perfect From Now On Album Review | Pitchfork

Built to Spill’s Perfect From Now On is alternative rock in its truest sense. The guitars dominate every other instrument on this record with their power chords, buzz and fuzz, and crackling riffs. The vocals compliment the guitar with its slightly off-tune nature and wavering pitch. Six of the eight tracks on this record are over six minutes long, so each song puts a heavy emphasis on its instrumentals and even steps into the post-rock genre. Whereas most alternative rock groups put a heavy emphasis on melodies and lighter lyrics like Pavement, Built to Spill puts more emphasis on their chord changes and gloomier lyrics.

The Strokes - Is This It - Amazon.com MusicThe Strokes have probably capitalized the most on the indie rock boom at the beginning of the 2000s. Their debut album Is This It, has reached high status and songs like “Someday” and “Last Nite” are still played on the radio today. The New York group released their record in the U.S. during the aftermath of 9/11 and now their sound is a reminiscence of the despair and lost hope that the people of New York recently attained despite their general uplifting and hopeful sound. The Strokes were the band for the underdog. Almost no one thought that an indie rock group would go gold in 2000 and went it did, the teenagers and young kids of that era felt as if they had someone to represent them.

The Bends (album) - Wikipedia

Radiohead’s The Bends is possibly their most defining album and helped to revive alternative rock from its gloomy days after the death of Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain. Coming off of their slightly disappointing, yet still popular debut album Pablo Honey, Radiohead finally began to come into their sound with The Bends. Most people consider The Bends to be just another stepping stone in the release of OK Computer and Kid A, but a lot of their songs such as “Fake Plastic Trees” and “High and Dry” gave Radiohead a proper name in the musical world.

Minecraft (Volume Alpha)

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Image result for minecraft volume alpha
Cover art for C418’s Minecraft (Volume Alpha)

Minecraft (Volume Alpha) is the first Minecraft soundtrack album and eighth album overall released by Daniel Rosenfeld, commonly known as C418. Volume Alpha is a piano-heavy ambient record with electronics and impressionism fused into it. It is a hallmark in the video game soundtrack discography.

Soundtracks are an interesting area in music because the quality of music usually declines when it is removed from the context it was initially in. For some soundtracks, a lot of their songs lose their meaning when they are removed from the game or movie because they are specifically designed to accompany that game or movie. This is not the case with Minecraft (Volume Alpha). Minecraft is currently the best-selling game of all time, sitting at roughly 200 million total sales, and some people believe the widespread success and acclaim might have been lost without the soundtrack.

When composing Volume Alpha, Rosenfeld believed that the music he was making needed to be applicable to almost every aspect of the game, while at the same time not taking up too much attention from the player. Tracks like “Sweeden” and “Subwoofer Lullaby” have these beautiful, divine, and peaceful melodies accompanied by this bass that just tiptoes around the melody which creates an extremely melancholic and meditative atmosphere. When players of the game are asked what feelings Minecraft gives them, they might respond with words like lonely, peaceful, or calm, and that is mostly due to the Volume Alpha soundtrack.

There have been many controversies surrounding the simplicity of this album, saying that the record is devoid of any complexities and lacks emotion. A lot of people making these arguments usually don’t have the context of the game to go along with the soundtrack. Minecraft is a very simple and self-explanatory game. You don’t need someone to teach it to you. You don’t need a tutorial. It feels natural. When you boot into a new world and the beginning notes of Haggstrom fade in, you begin to feel reborn.

The Minecraft soundtrack was a revolutionary piece of work that has inspired and paved a way for ambient music to come. It was one of the primary reasons why Minecraft become as popular as it did. To some people Minecraft (Volume Alpha) is simply peaceful piano ambient music that doesn’t impress, but to others it’s a masterfully crafted soundtrack that gives the game it’s meaning.