D&D: Spelljams – Sail the Astral Sea With Official WotC ‘Spelljammer’ Soundtrack
It takes more than sea shanties to sail the Astral Seas. WotC announces Spelljams, a new album inspired by Spelljammer: Adventures in Space.
It seems that Spelljammer: Adventures in Space isn’t the only Spelljammer news this week. Just yesterday, WotC announced a new album, Spelljams, developed in collaboration with “various artists.” With 19 different tracks across a variety of genres, these songs are perfect for anyone to Spelljam to.
The album is up for pre-order now, and you can sample the tracks before you pick it up. It’ll be available on a variety of platforms, up to and including vinyl. But that’s just the overview. The details will make you question just what is going on with everything in the world. Like. Is reality okay? I mean, this is, ostensibly, a novelty album and it sounds like, actually good?
Spelljams or Lo-Fi Beats to Spelljammer to
For nearly five decades, Dungeons & Dragons has inspired generations of creative people to make movies, novels and, yes, music. Now that relationship is even more distinct with the release today of an album of music created by cutting-edge bands and musical acts all inspired by Spelljammer: Adventures in Space. The far-out storytelling in the world’s greatest roleplaying game’s latest offering is fertile ground for composing some of the most original songs you’ll hear this year from bands like Magic Sword, Shabazz Palaces, Califone, TEKE::TEKE and Osees.
And at the risk of burying the lede, every track on the album was produced by Chris Funk. Yeah, that Chris Funk. Guitarist from the Decemberists. But reality gets even weirder than that:
Spelljams features a double LP’s worth of tracks from artists all produced by Chris Funk, guitarist from The Decemberists who plays D&D with many folks in the music scene in Portland, Oregon. Chris Perkins, story architect at D&D and lead designer of Spelljammer, worked with Funk to bring the Flash Gordon-esque soundtrack to life.
I want to know what Chris Funk’s D&D game is like. Have they done a whole campaign inspired by the Crane Wife? The answer should be “obviously not,” but after this? Who even knows anymore.
Here’s what Funk had to say about working on the album:
“Helping facilitate bringing this world to life through music and the amazing artists’ visions that were selected was an honor of a lifetime, I am of the opinion when people think of Dungeons & Dragons that there is a preconceived underscore of what these worlds might sound like. With this bold return to Spelljammer we were excited to push the boundaries deep into Wildspace, working with artists from diverse musical backgrounds that could challenge what music in the multiverse of the world’s greatest roleplaying game might sound like. Each artist was given a character or plot prompt from the storyline, then challenged to write an original composition based on Light of Xaryxis. We hope you enjoy the result!”
Check out Spelljams and pre-order on your audio platform of choice
Here’s a full artist and tracklist:
1. Magic Sword – “Seeds of Destruction”
2. Osees – “Arena of Blood”
3. Reggie Watts – “Space is a Place”
4. TEKE::TEKE – “Visible Lights”
5. Black Marble – “Far”
6. Mikaela Davis – “Left Hand Path”
7. Lucius – “Love is the Disaster”
8. Penny & Sparrow – “Xedalli”
9. Y La Bamba – “Moon Dancer”
10. Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith – “Light of Xaryxis”
11. MonoNeon – “Spacefighters”
12. Cardioid & pink paint – “Crystalline Climbers”
13. Devon Gilfillian – “Me and the Moon”
14. Red Fang – “Endless Sea”
15. Nolan Potter’s Nightmare Band – “Ghost of the Nautiloid”
16. Deru & Arooj Aftab – “Forgotten Land”
17. Wizard of Waz – “Topolah’s Song”
18. Califone – “chaotic.evil.astral.elves”
19. Shabazz Palaces – “The Door to Endlessness”
Happy Adventuring
