Darren Korb (Hades), The Beatles & Queens of the Stone Age Coming to CrossFade! Send Questions & Songs!

Thom Blackburn

Howdy esteemed guest! I have a scenario for you: you are told by a fortune teller that you have 3 soundtracks left in you. You are told that you must choose 1 instrument to completely convey the tone of each game soundtrack. Electronics are off limits. One instrument per soundtrack, go! Thanks, Thom My music pick is Cicatriz Esp by The Mars Volta https://tidal.com/track/585119 Ps. Objectively speaking, mosquito song is the best queens of the stone age song.

Dylan Kelly

This is so exciting that Darren's going to be on. I actually recorded a cover recreating all of the parts of "Setting Sail, Coming Home" as part of my senior project in highschool, so big fan here. My question is: When you start the process of writing a track, do you come in from scratch, entirely writing everything from the ground up, or do you have demos/riffs/voice recordings that you use as a jumping off point? If both, how do you decide when to use one method or the other? My song recommendation, following in the vein of game music with vocals, is "Connected" from Tetris Effect. Such a good song to immerse the player. https://youtu.be/CpSnnlzbO9o

Jason Wojnar

Hope I am not too late. Abby Road has one of the finest album closers ever, but is it your favorite? If not, what is?

Hey Darren! Your music has been a huge influence on me ever since I sat down with Bastion years ago. Every time SuperGiant releases a game, the OST gets purchased right along with it. My question for you: you've made your reputation on blending disparate styles/genres in unique and interesting ways, such as with Bastion's mix of folk/delta blues and electronica. How much of this style was deliberate ("hey, I want to do folk music with electronic beats"), or was some of it dictated by limitations in the early days of Supergiant ("renting a studio to record a drummer is expensive, I'm going to use electronic beats instead"). Oh, and favorite guitar tuning? Song: Magic by Bruce Springsteen

If I did a mad lib for my ideal Crossfade episode, this would be the result. Question: Do you like using instruments from other cultures in your music? Is this done mostly for hipster cred, or is there specific tones or timbre that can be only found in those instruments? Song: Isle of Skye Reel by Soulsha

Post Pop Depression is so good

Josh LaBaw

A few years ago a local MN Rapper/Producer, Cecil Otter, released a single with 2 tracks. One being the full song with vocals, the other was the instrumental. As a Producer he was clear that the instrumental had slight differences in the music from the track with Lyrics/Vocals. It made me think, about Video Game sound tracks. Are there slight tweaks that are made between in game and the Official Sound Track? Maybe because of the way things are interacted with in game, or because a sound you had in the original track sounds to much like an environmental cue to the player?

Drake M.

Big fan (and first time write in) here! If you enjoy QOTSA, you should check out Iggy Pop’s album Post Pop Depression. It’s basically Iggy singing over music by members of QOTSA and Arctic Monkeys. It was the mashup I never knew I wanted. Do either of you have any musical “supergroups” that stand out in your mind?

Bob Buel

Big fan, Darren! And a hearty howdy to the Crossfade twins themselves, Jason & Matt - Is the Beatles best-of album "1" the BEST best-of album of all time? Pound for pound, it just seems so strong. If not, are there any best-of albums that you had that come to mind as being in that elite category of greatness? And for a song submission, here's '3rd Best' by music producer 3D Blast, a 16 bit Genesis inspired and Beach Boys influenced head nodding classic. https://open.spotify.com/track/11w7UNvU8VAqssbgXqEYpp?si=yVLhguOMSf-KjYGCCMrzaA&utm_source=copy-link&dl_branch=1 Thanks Peace and love Bob Buel

Michael Gibler

Hey there Darren, Matt, and Jason! First off, love the pick Darren. Abbey Road is my second favorite Beatles album, and only because Sgt. Peppers has "She's Leaving Home" on it, one of the few perfect songs. My question this week is: Can you all think of any songs with a twist in them that genuinely surprised you? I have a couple examples, one being "Come Sail Away" by Styx. The revelation about the angels in the last verse is fairly surprising on first listen. Its definitely not something I would've expected at all before that verse. Let me know if you can think of any songs like that, or any like my other example. For my money "The Ballad of Bill Thaxton" by Marty Robbins has one of the most surprising, unexpected twists in all of music. Its also my recommended song this week. https://youtu.be/az7fGqYIiL0 If you all could either listen to it live or, since it's nearly 5 minutes long, listen to it before-hand and discuss the twist if at all possible. I'd love to hear your opinions on it, and/or any other curve balls in music that you know of! Thanks, and keep up the great pod! Michael from Iowa

Doreen Ford

Hey Darren! I'm a huge fan of your work in both Bastion and Hades and was wondering what were you listening to while Hades was made? Did anything in particular inspire the tracks you ended up doing for it? What about Bastion? Thanks so much!