Music from video games – be it songs “inspired by” games, soundtracks, chip tunes, remixes, or something else entirely – is a big part of the Destructoid community. Music Monday is a weekly look at some of these tunes.
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The image of a Katamari Damacy-esque ball on the cover of Bob Ostertag's ambitious w00t seems appropriate. The mashup (which began as a part of a performance piece addressing the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, oddly enough) is a sonic combination of effects and music from more than a dozen games. The 50-minute “sound collage” spans from classic games like Balloon Fight all the way up to Halo and World of Warcraft. Ostertag didn't skimp on the production of this experimental piece, creating the track, a “trailer”, and front and back “cover art.” Reviews from the blogosphere have been mostly positive, praising everything from the focus of the experiment to Mr. Ostertag's willingness to put up new and free Creative Commons music.

Now just as fair warning, the track definitely isn't for everyone. I would suggest loading up the free version rather than the trailer if you want to give it a try. The trailer starts off with some incredibly dissonant sound, and isn't (in my mind) representative of the piece as a whole. If you are a fan of retro music or “experimental” sounds and mashups, Ostertag has really created a striking piece of art. As the song becomes more and more layered, the seemingly random clips of music and effects take on some shape. w00t soars from ambient to beautiful to harsh and back again, and is unquestionably worth the ride. Anyway, its free, so you have nothing to lose by putting it on in the background.