Get Your Groove On! /// Music Monday #85

I swear, these Music Monday love to creep up on me and be like, "Hey, remember us? It's our time again!"

Today's song is a funky one called . . .

"Sand 'n Sails Heatgusts" from A Hat in Time

Composed by Pascal Michael Stiefel

If you're all about that type of music that makes you want to get up and start dancing like crazy, or snapping your fingers to the beat, or even just bop your head to, this is the song for you. (I'm pretty sure I've done all three.) There's something about the whole thing that I can't get enough of. I need a whole album of music like this, please. It's too short on its own as a single song.

So in the game, the last chapter (pretty sure it's the last one, anyway) is this place called Alpine Skyline. It's more open world than the other chapters are, and based on the title, it's obviously mountain-themed. However, it originally was supposed to be a desert, but it got changed because of, and I quote, "a mismatch between visuals and gameplay." I'm not sure why they couldn't have kept it as a desert, though since I haven't played much of the game, I can't really say a lot on the matter.

What I can say is that I would've loved to have been able to hear this music in an open world desert area, if for nothing else than the fact that it'd be very different from your stereotypical sandy level song. Don't get me wrong, it's not like I hate the trope. There are a number of songs (particularly some Nintendo ones) used in desert levels that have that "classic Egyptian" feel to them. There are others (more Nintendo ones come to mind) that find a way to change things up a little or flip it on its head in some way. I have yet to hear, however, something that's completely different, like this song--and if I have heard it, it's not being very memorable at the moment.

All that to say this: don't be afraid to break the tropes or whatever's considered the standard when it comes to your creative works. Be brave enough to get a different angle on the box, exit it, or maybe just smash it entirely. It's like me when I've been thinking about and working on a playlist for The Portal Chronicles. Sure, I want it to have some epic fantasy music, but what if I want to get creative and try something different? What if I want to use a heavy metal song from the Doom soundtrack for when a horde of monsters is bearing down on the heroes? What if a groovy wubstep piece by MDK was used for an epic and intense chase? What if I find a song from an anime that really captures the mood I need for a battle that turns the tides better than what a song that "should" work because it's more fantasy-ish? Honestly, it's fine if you want to stick with what's normal, but dare yourself to try doing something abnormal next time and see what happens.

And that's the end of it! What're your thoughts on the music? Did it make you dance like it did to me? Do you have any creative project where you decided to go against the norm in some way?