Music
"The Music of Bionicle is a mixture of the mystical and the mechanical. Like the Toa, it blends the power of high technology with a raw elemental force."
— BIONICLEmusic.com
| Music | |
 Extract from the 2007 BIONICLE.com Music section | |
| Media | |
| Type | Music |
| Years released | 2001-2016 |
The BIONICLE franchise has often employed Music as one of its multimedia components, ranging from movie scores and promotional songs to licensed themes.
2001
The "Search for the Golden Kanohi" contest in 2001 included three full-length music CDs from Universal Music as a third prize.
BIONICLEmusic.com
Universal Music created a website, the now-defunct BIONICLEmusic.com, where fans could listen to samples of BIONICLE music and learn about how they were created. Fans could also mix different loops together to make their own songs and learn about the Power Pack's exclusive set and mask.
BIONICLE Power Pack
An exclusive set called the BIONICLE Power Pack was released. It featured a CD-ROM, Hafu, and a Kanohi Rua. The CD, featuring three music tracks, was produced by 19 Entertainment and distributed by Universal Music. Credits for the individual tracks were attributed to various Toa Mata
- 1. The BIONICLE Music, by Lewa: The best-known of the tracks, as it has appeared in several different media. It is best known for its inclusion in the Mata Nui Online Game during the Lewa vs. Onua episode, Kopaka's battle with the Muaka and the final battle against Teridax Episode. Later it was featured in the short Vahki movies.
- 2. Hura-Mafa Flow, Vocals and Guitars by Gali, programming by Kopaka: A darker piece, which features a vocal track that contains the words "Still Searching" and "Rock One, Rock Two, Rock Three." It is attributed to Gali because it is named after the Hura-Mafa River in Ga-Wahi.
- 3. Kumo Rocks, Vocals and Guitars by Gali, programming by Kopaka: A guitar-driven mix interspersed with the words "Rock Your World."
Mata Nui Online Game Music
The soundtrack to the Mata Nui online game featured music from several sources, some original and some not. One of the tracks is the remix of the composer Wagner's famous piece "Ride of the Valkyries" heard during the Le-Wahi Kahu sequences (where the Kahu force 'rides' to battle the Nui-Rama). Several of the tracks used in the game have since been included on promotional CDs.[citation needed]
A number of stock music tracks were directly sampled in Mata Nui Online Game. Many of these are cues composed by Dick de Benedictis from the SCD 709 Dramatic Workshop 26 - Moodsetters, Links & Stings album, including "Predators A", a recurring theme first heard during the sequence where Tahu meets the Ta-Koro Guard; "Cluster 1" and "Doom Threat", which are both heard during Takua's vision about the Bohrok; and "Help 3", which is heard whenever Tamaru and Macku see invading Rahi at Kini-Nui. "Jungle Fire", from Zero-G's Cuckooland - Ambience album, is briefly heard when Takua arrives at Ga-Koro for the first time.
Video Game Music
Dave M. Madden, Eric Nunamaker, Todd Sorensen, and Rick Bradshaw are credited for the audio of BIONICLE: Quest for the Toa, though none of them are specifically credited for composing the soundtrack.
Dave Madden, credited as David "Q" Madden, is also credited for the music of the unreleased BIONICLE: The Legend of Mata Nui.
2002
The music of BIONICLE: Matoran Adventures has been attributed to Justin Scharvona and Chris Sweetman, although the game itself does not provide credits.[citation needed]
BIONICLE: The Album
An official BIONICLE album was originally planned for release in 2002, but the project was scrapped when disagreements arose between The LEGO Group and Interscope Records, the company that they planned to partner with.
Advertisements for the album revealed that it was planned to feature such artists as the post-grunge band Cold, the artist Kenna, the metal/rock singer Rob Zombie, and alternative band Woven. A URL was also provided for bioniclethealbum.com, although the site was never launched and for a short time merely redirected to BIONICLE.com.
2003 - 2006
Swift & Danny Tracks
When the drivers of the East Coast BIONICLE Unleashed Van, Swift and Danny, were touring in the summer of 2003, they composed two songs that were on BZPower for a short time. The first "track" was a BIONICLE rap and parody named BIONICLE Brain, and the second was a techno mix likened to the Power Pack music of 2001. However, The LEGO Group asked BZPower to remove the tracks from the Internet, and BZPower honored their request.
Video Game Music
Bob & Barn Ltd. composed the music for the PC and console versions of BIONICLE: The Game, which was also reused in Voya Nui Online Game. No composer has been credited for the Game Boy Advance version.[citation needed]
The music of BIONICLE: Maze of Shadows has been attributed to Allister Brimble and Anthony N. Putson.[citation needed]
Ian Livingstone composed the music for the PC and console versions of BIONICLE Heroes. Tom Miller composed the soundtrack for the Game Boy Advance version. Ian Stocker composed the soundtrack for the Nintendo DS version, although he was not credited for the music in the game itself.[1]
Movie Scores
The movie release of BIONICLE: Mask of Light in 2003 added a different direction to the music of BIONICLE. Rather than the previous techno genre that had been associated with the BIONICLE line, the soundtrack composed by Nathan Furst featured classical instrumentation. Furst went on to write the scores for the next two parts of the trilogy, BIONICLE 2: Legends of Metru Nui, released in 2004, and BIONICLE 3: Web of Shadows, released in 2005. Furst's score was widely praised by reviewers of the films and fans of the BIONICLE line, with many considering the music to be one of the best aspects of the films.[citation needed] Co-director David Molina lauded Furst's work on Web of Shadows, saying "Watching the picture with his music for the first time is an amazing experience. The story is suddenly alive and emotional."[2]
The Mask of Light soundtrack was released on March 10, 2017, fourteen years after the film's release.[3][4] It was followed by the Legends of Metru Nui and Web of Shadows soundtracks on December 12 and 22 of the same year, respectively.[5][6] The Mask of Light and Web of Shadows soundtracks contain the complete scores from their respective films, while the Legends of Metru Nui soundtrack contains most of the film's score but omits music from a handful of scenes; one of these cues is available on Furst's archived website.[7] Furst stated that the missing tracks were excluded due to their feeling "redundant", but has also indicated that he may upload them at some point.[8] The Legends of Metru Nui score contains Nathan Furst's original sketch for Lhikan's theme that was used partially in the DVD menus,[9] as well as an unused alternate "Desert/Kikeinalo" theme.[5] The Web of Shadows score also contains Furst's sketch for Roodaka's theme that was unused in the film (though a variation of it can be heard in the DVD menus).[10]
"Future World" composed by Future World Music, from their album Volume 1 - Epic Action, is one of the music tracks used in a Mask of Light trailer.[11]
All Insane Kids Songs
In 2005, a pair of songs were released on the official BIONICLE website. The tracks - "Hero" and "Caught in a Dream" were written and produced by Morten Krog Helgesen and performed by the band All Insane Kids, commonly abbreviated to AIK, with vocals by Christian Bastian.
"Hero" was released first as the soundtrack to a short BIONICLE music video featuring Ghost CG from past years. "Caught In a Dream" was released later, and was also used as the closing credits music in the movie BIONICLE 3: Web of Shadows. "Hero" was released in two different versions, with slight composition and lyrical changes.
Piraka
The 2006 winter marketing campaign featured a Piraka Rap, emphasizing the "gang" nature of the Piraka. Versions of the song were seen on Piraka.com and the false connect-the-dots game, Draw a Piraka. An extended version of the song was included on Jetix Disc #22.[12]
Free The Band
The Toa Inika sets, released in the summer, were advertised with the song Move Along by The All-American Rejects. The All-American Rejects were also the focus of the "Free the Band" promotion.
2007
With the release of Barraki: Creeps From the Deep on early 2007, the soundtrack for the new song, Creeping in my Soul, was also made available to download shortly afterwards. The song was performed by Christine Lorentzen, Mikkel Maltha, and Søren Bendz, a LEGO employee and music artist. An alternate version of the song was released with the Barraki Promo CD.
Later, in July 2007, the video BIONICLE: Toa Mahri was released. While on the United States version of the movie the song Crashed, by Daughtry, can be heard, other countries featured the video with the song Face Me by Edsim (Eddie Simonsen) & Malta (Mikkel Maltha), with vocals provided by Niels Brinck.
2008
During the Phantoka Mini Movie, released in the first half of 2008, chords from the song Gravity Hurts were played; the full song was later made available on BIONICLE.com. Several short clips of the songs were also made available as ringtone downloads. Like Face Me, the keyboards are played by Mikkel Maltha, who was also the composer, the producer was Eddie Simonsen, guitarist is Kasper Søderlund and the vocals are done by Niels Brinck, with the artist of the song attributed as "Brinck." It was also used in Battle for Power and has its own music video.
The song Closer to the Truth was featured in BIONICLE: Mistika, the second-half advertisements of 2008. The song is also available for download on BIONICLE.com, and a music video accompaniment was released a week later on October 8. The song was performed by Cryoshell, featuring Kal (previous contributor Mikkel Maltha), Asp (Kasper Søderlund), and vocals by Lore (Christine Lorentzen, who sang "Creeping In My Soul").
2009
In 2008, the newly formed band Cryoshell announced plans to record new versions of Creeping in My Soul, Face Me and Gravity Hurts, which would be released together with Closer to the Truth in a new album in the fall of 2009, but delays had caused the CD's release date to be pushed back
By Myself by Linkin Park was used in the Antroz Test Animation.
A new song by Cryoshell, named Bye Bye Babylon, was released in August on BIONICLE.com as a free download and was made available on iTunes for $0.99. Its music video was released on the Cryoshell website, and a special BIONICLE version of the music video was released on BIONICLE.com and included in The Legend Reborn. Bye Bye Babylon can also be heard playing in the background of one of the promotional animations for the Glatorian sets.
The score for BIONICLE: The Legend Reborn was composed by John D'Andrea. This score has not been released officially. Another song licensed for use in the movie was Ride by Canadian band Presence, which is played in the end credits.
The Nicktoons trailer for The Legend Reborn used two music tracks released by Epic Score: "Your Destiny is Coming" from Epic Action & Adventure, Vol. 1,[13] and "Unstoppable Forces" from Epic Action & Adventure, Vol. 5.[14]
2010
Cryoshell later released their full length self-titled debut album in Denmark on June 7, 2010, after BIONICLE's original cancellation and conclusion. The album was slowly released around the world between 2010 and 2012 as both digital downloads and physical CD copies. Cryoshell continued to compose music for LEGO for BIONICLE's successor, Hero Factory, releasing the single "Breakout" for their 2012 wave of sets.
2016
The score for BIONICLE: The Journey to One was composed by Mike Raznick. This score has not been released officially, although Raznick has posted some tracks on music sharing service SoundCloud. These uploaded tracks include "Toa's Theme,"[15] "Makuta's Theme,"[16] and "Siege of the City."[17]
References
External links
- Archive of direct download for Hero by AIK
- Archive of direct download for Caught In a Dream by AIK
- Download Creeping in my Soul by Cryoshell (original scoring)
- Archive of direct download for Face Me
- Archive of direct download for Gravity Hurts
- Archive of direct download for Closer to the Truth
- Archive of direct download for Bye Bye Babylon
- Cryoshell's album on iTunes
- Download Music from Biomedia Project
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