Machinae Supremacy & TTLG

demagogue on 20/7/2008 at 00:20

I've been listening to this great band recently.
They're well known as gaming fans and have done soundtracks for a number of recent games.

Anyway, one of their songs is (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pz2TJ2FVKww) Through the Looking Glass, and since nobody seems to have brought up the topic before (in a search), I thought I'd throw out the question.

Knowing how into cult and online video game culture they are, and how involved they are in the industry, I can't help but suspect that they've heard about TTLG and that the song, even if it's not explicit, has our TTLG at least in the background, one layer of its meaning. I mean, they've self-consciously listed gaming forums (C64 forums in particular) as their favorite haunts online, so it's not such a wild idea.

(http://www.seeklyrics.com/lyrics/Machinae-Supremacy/Through-The-Looking-Glass.html) Lyrics

Quote:

[...]
Once I walked along a field
another nightmare in my mind
and beheld the fearful symmetry
Everything was beautiful
even things that were dead
and I surged with violent imagery

[...]

We come to honor; to stand or die
to pass the hours of our lives
We burn the silence and all the lies
To fuel the fire inside our eyes
We all go!

Come to honor
stand or die
Fuel that fire in your eyes.

The song ends up being about gathering to honor something passionate, beautiful, and violent that once was ... if you think of games like System Shock 1 & 2 (which I bet they've played, given the sorts of games they do music for), you can see how it could apply to TTLG. The "silence and lies" are all the inspiration-less games still going on strong out there, where LGS tapped into ("fueled") the "fire inside".

I realize the lyrics could stand on their own, about the passionate nightmares on the "other side", but still ... it was esp the "coming to honor" part that made me think there might be a deeper connection than just coincidence. Am I just being optimistic?

Edit: But anyway, even if it is a coincidence, it's still a hell of a good theme song for the old place IMO.

Koki on 20/7/2008 at 05:37

But does he sing in that one? Because he can't sing.

Mortal Monkey on 20/7/2008 at 12:09

I downloaded a few songs off their website, way back (http://www.machinaesupremacy.com/masusite/archive.html) before they took it down, while looking for (http://www.vorbis.com/music_links/) tunes at vorbis.com.
There was only one I really liked, and that was Ghost (Beneath The Surface). Since then they seem to have gained some experience though.

TheOutrider on 20/7/2008 at 12:49

I'd say it's unlikely to be a reference to here or to Looking Glass. They've been trying fairly hard to get away from the "those guys who made that Giana Sisters cover" image for a while, even before Redeemer (which Through The Looking Glass is from).

Great song though. :D

[edit] Holy wow, when'd they turn into one of Those Bands who only have a myspace page :-( [/edit]

Vivian on 20/7/2008 at 21:48

'This songs about us, man!'. Uh, yeah. I hope you were still drunk when you thought this.

demagogue on 21/7/2008 at 03:49

Yeah, well ... maybe.

But then again they are they only major band I know that has their own (http://forum.machinaesupremacy.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=05f22fd99601781fde6550b5f8968281&board=4.0) official gaming forum.

Their first fan base came off of C64 forums ("Releasing ["The Great Gianna Sisters] onto various Commodore 64 remix sites proved to be instrumental in granting the band's early success"). And the same year they put out TTLG, they went on a "Video Game concert" tour. ((http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machinae_Supremacy) wiki).

I'm not saying they had to write the song just about us, but that maybe they had at least heard of us, considering that they are the kind of guys that would think it's a good idea to go to gaming forums to build a fanbase. I realize we're not huge or anything, but I'd think that people that are religiously into gaming and online forums (their whole approach to their fans seems built off that) might have at least heard of us. People in the gaming industry know about us.

Edit: Actually my theory is evolving... If you look at their songs ... they have songs that are retro-game remixes, they have game soundtracks, and then songs with suspiciously game-esque/techy titles -- Deus Ex Machinae, TTLG, Wired, Winterstorm, Steve's Quest, Fury -- none are really about the games or sources they sound like, but it fits in with the idea that they're drawing names and ideas from the bigger gaming world, like an ambiance sort of thing. Not that I take my own theory seriously. It probably is a coincidence. But at least it's a suspicious one.

st.patrick on 21/7/2008 at 06:19

The lyrics are an awful William Blake ripoff

Stitch on 23/7/2008 at 00:32

Faith No More was a pretty good band back in the day.

Vivian on 23/7/2008 at 18:07

Aside from a few notable peaks, Mike Patton's been on an accelerating nose-dive since FNM split up. Have you heard Crudo, his latest piece of shit? Why does no one tell him he can't rap to save his mother?

Kolya on 26/7/2008 at 10:23

First I thought I should mention that there's a book of the same title that's been somewhat more famous than this site and that this might be what the band's referring to. But now that I read the lyrics and watched the video (well half of it, then I couldn't bear it anymore) I'm convinced the song refers to nothing but the fearful emptiness behind it's author's eyes.