Eno's unique Spore soundtrack

By Robert Purchese Published 16 January, 2007

'Just as procedural as the game'.

Brian Eno has confirmed he will be composing the Spore soundtrack.

The father of modern ambient music revealed his involvement in a recent lecture in Berlin, written up by website WMMNA.

"Generativity plays a role in many fields now, with gaming being no exception. Also built around this notion and probably one of the currently most eagerly awaited games is Will Wright's Spore, for which Brian Eno, as he revealed, will be making the soundtrack!"

Rumours of Eno's involvement have been circulating since November, when Spore creator Will Wright joined him on stage to deliver a talk on the joys and techniques of generative creation. This meeting of minds made Brian a perfect choice.

"He was asked to do it, because the designers wanted sound that is just as procedural as the game itself. He went on to demonstrate a simple software called 'The Shuffler', which even with a simple combination of samples possibly would never create the same composition twice within a lifetime."

Spore is due for release in the second-half of 2007.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (47) Latest comment 5 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Dizzy #1 5 years ago

    Awesome... I have never seen really good procedural music/sound so I guess this will be interesting. About time someone invested in this neglected side of games design.

  • UncleLou #2 5 years ago

    Very cool.

  • NthSimulachum #3 5 years ago

    Cool!

  • chupachups #4 5 years ago

    Nothing can match the beauty of Eno's "Theme for Windows 95". So simple, so warm.

  • Bitkari #5 5 years ago

    Good news!

  • brooza #6 5 years ago

    pfft

    according to wikipedia, he created the windows 95 theme on his mac...

  • Scientist #7 5 years ago

    "I have never seen really good procedural music/sound"

    Surely, "I have never heard..." :-)

  • pauleyc #8 5 years ago

    Ooooh...excellent. And interesting technology.

  • Yossarian #9 5 years ago

    most fucking awesome news ever

  • Tomster #10 5 years ago

    @brooza: According to common courtesy people who have to look up Brian Eno on Wikipedia shouldn't really comment on his talents.

  • the_dudefather #11 5 years ago

    omg he wuz in father ted!!

  • cubbymoore #12 5 years ago

    Did he do the secret song in XP too?

  • Grim... #13 5 years ago

    "most fucking awesome news ever"

    Really?

  • brooza #14 5 years ago

    @Tomster: I wasn't slagging him off, I just found it amusing that the Windows 95 theme was composed on a mac.

    Now apologise

  • cubbymoore #15 5 years ago

    Shorter version: Tomster = douchebag

  • Yossarian #16 5 years ago

    Grim..., yes. Eno is probably one of the ten or so most important figures for music in the last 100 years.

  • Darkedge #17 5 years ago

    Eno - Genius or Nutcase, you decide.

    A bit of both tbh I'd say ;)

  • L42yB #18 5 years ago

    @Yossarian: Um... wait...

    Buddy Holly
    Paul Macartney
    John Lennon
    James Brown
    Jimmy Page
    Roger Waters
    ...List goes on...

    I don't see Eno anywhere near the top 10 as far as music in the last 100 years is concerned... infact, I don't even see him getting into the top 1000... but each to their own, i guess...

  • Shrimp #19 5 years ago

    Truely awesome news

  • Yossarian #20 5 years ago

    lol@ Page and Waters

    rockists in full force around here

  • newt #21 5 years ago

    Page, Waters, Macca.. yawn.

    Eno is the true visionary. Check out Another Green World, Music For Airports or his collaborations with Byrne or Bowie.

    Excellent choice for the Spore soundtrack and great news indeed.

  • Kelduum #22 5 years ago

    "I have never seen really good procedural music/sound"

    Surely, "I have never heard..." :-)

    Maybe hes a Synesthete like me? Its like having a visualization plugin, but in your head!

  • kangarootoo #23 5 years ago

    "Eno - Genius or Nutcase, you decide."

    A nutcase that ends up very rich is also a genius IMO.

  • Hughes. #24 5 years ago

    I'll look forward to sub-headings and screenshot captions littered with Eno tracks in the review then. Definitely should be able to squeeze Taking Tiger Mountain in somewhere, and In Dark Trees.

  • Scientist #25 5 years ago

    "infact, I don't even see him getting into the top 1000... "

    Now, you're being silly.
    As for Paul MacCartney: Wings and The Frog Song?

  • Bezzy #26 5 years ago

    We were trying to do this in Hoop world, but... well. Never mind.

  • kangarootoo #27 5 years ago

    @Bezzy

    Hey, I just saw your user tag. I'm famous :)

    I don't ignore anyone. To do so would reduce my opportunities to rant, and they are my oxygen.

  • L42yB #28 5 years ago

    @newt: "Page, Waters, Macca.. yawn." :-O Sacralige!!! They're only the fathers of Rock as we know it...

    @Scientist: Yeh, I'm not saying everything Paul's done is great (expecially in the last 20 years) but he did have a major influence on music in his younger days and wrote some of the greatest songs ever (Yesterday, Blackbird, Live and Let Die, etc.) He *definitely* had more of an influence on music than Brian Eno, which is my point really.

    I mean seriously, how can u possibly say that Eno is one of the greatest musicians of the last 100 years? I'm sure elevators and being on hold wouldn't be the same without him, but this has hardly changed the music world the way any of the people I listed have...




  • Mashum #29 5 years ago

    Had a breif stint in porn apparently, don't think that's on his wiki page!

    Quite a talented musician as well :)

  • Scientist #30 5 years ago

    "but this has hardly changed the music world the way any of the people I listed have... "

    It's like the Orb and Aphex Twin and the massive canon of electronic music never happened. Do you even know how many top artists have asked Brian Eno to produce their work, bringing his unique talent and sounds?

    "being on hold wouldn't be the same without him"

    Actually, I have heard the Beatles on hold many times, but not Eno...

  • newt #31 5 years ago

    L24yB: I'll pick Iggy Pop or the Velvets over your fathers of washed out rock any day.

    Macca maybe influenced a bunch of conventional songwriters while Eno was the mastermind behind electronica (especially ambient & sampling) + he produced some of the finest albums ever made (stuff by Talking Heads or U2). And don't forget his involvement with Roxy Music, one of the 70's bands you can actually still listen to without falling asleep / feeling grumpy.

  • L42yB #32 5 years ago

    @Scientist - Lol :)

    "It's like the Orb and Aphex Twin and the massive canon of electronic music never happened." - If only...

    "Do you even know how many top artists have asked Brian Eno to produce their work, bringing his unique talent and sounds? " - Um... 3? Wait no, 4?

    "Actually, I have heard the Beatles on hold many times, but not Eno... " - That's why Eno covered the Beatles and not the other way around...

    ;-D

  • L42yB #33 5 years ago

    @newt: "I'll pick Iggy Pop or the Velvets over your fathers of washed out rock any day. " - Yup, I'd rate both of 'em above Eno too ;)

    And yes, I am exagerrating cos it's much more entertaining that way (wud be pretty boring if I just took the middle ground...) Roxy Music was cool and Eno is still a great musician... I just figured I should stand up for the many 'greater' musicians of the last hundered years :)

  • Scientist #34 5 years ago

    "I just figured I should stand up for the many 'greater' musicians of the last hundered years :) "

    You forgot to include any 20th classical composers, R&B artists (who ultimately inspired rock n roll) and jazz musicians, etc. Your list was a very narrow selection (4 English guys), which hardly inspires confidence in your musical knowledge.

  • L42yB #35 5 years ago

    @Scientist - hey, I didn't put my name in the list, did I? ;) All down to taste really. But yes, ur point just shows that there are hundereds more that come before Eno ;)

  • TonyCocaCola #36 5 years ago

    Isnt eno that little red dude from sesame street?

  • L42yB #37 5 years ago

    I found ENO :)

    http://ww w.walgreens.com/store/product.j...

  • TonyCocaCola #38 5 years ago

    I hate eno's.. with their stupid hair cuts and chemical romance t-shirts

  • Yossarian #39 5 years ago

    besides almost singlehandedly dragging ambient music into the popular consciousness and informing decades of electronic music to come Eno was in Roxy fucking Music, put out the faultless trilogy of Here Come the Warm Jets, Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy) and Another Green World (all three of which are distinctly different, and all three of which are contenders for best albums ever lists), and lent a hand to Talking Heads and David Bowie's Berlin trilogy alongside numerous, numerous other projects, recordings and production work. the man is a living legend who has been a central figure for a wide variety of popular music traditions. according to allmusic he "forever altered the ways in which music is approached, composed, performed, and perceived, and everything from punk to techno to new age bears his unmistakable influence."

    maybe you just don't know very much about music?

  • TonyCocaCola #40 5 years ago

    Maybe we just havent read/copy and pasted emusic.com's review on brian eno. ;)

    Music journalists = People who cant write, writing about people who cant play for people who cant read.
    Frank Zappa

  • L42yB #41 5 years ago

    @Yossarian: Now, now, there's no need for that ;) I never claimed to be the all knowing music guru of the world... the fact that some journalist somewhere has wet dreams about eno doesn't really proves that he's the greatest thing to happen to music. I personally wouldn't rate him anywhere above mediocre... I do agree with this quote, taken from a different music site :)

    Quote:
    "Brian Eno: A pompous, pseudo-intellectual porn-obsessive who--aside from being directly responsible for New Age music--stopped making good music the minute he left Roxy Music. "

    See? Even musically educated people can disagree. Cors, I do enjoy a good argument ;)

  • newt #42 5 years ago

    "Even musically educated people can disagree."

    Sure thing. Even musically educated people can have bad taste in music ;)

  • L42yB #43 5 years ago

    Yes, I think you've all proved that ;)

    EDIT: (I do hope that u all realise that this has all been light-hearted from my side... am really just having fun. Hopefully the high number of ;)'s helped to convey that. Incedentally, the story I took the quote from (feel free to google it) is based entirely on my attitude towards this thread :))
    Edited by 1 at 16/01/07 @ 16:43

  • chupachups #44 5 years ago

    Brian Eno cameoed in Father Ted, apparently...

  • smelly #45 5 years ago

    10 beep (rand(100), rand(10)/10)
    20 goto 10

  • Scientist #46 5 years ago

    "Incedentally, the story I took the quote from (feel free to google it) is based entirely on my attitude towards this thread :))"

    An amusing article. However, regardless of whether or not you actually like his music (I'm no big fan), he has indisputably had a massive influence on music (for better or for worse).
    Anyway, I think Ashlee Simpson pisses all over the Beatles (metaphorically of course) :-)

  • Fitzmogwai #47 5 years ago

    "Father Brian Eno" is a fantastic non-musician, an all-round top chap and this is excellent news.