In a revolutionary and timely episode of BGM Gems, Jordan and Dawn discuss a game that came out in the same year as the podcast episode-- specifically 2026's Mixtape. Will the black hole of discourse devour the hosts, or will they find musical joy on the last day of high school?

Gamespot Interview with Johnny Galvatron

Pavement's Witchitai-To  

Music in this episode:
(no soundtrack songs because copyright demons scare me)
lava, hello , and condition by ayr
intangible by dawn violet

A Podcast made by humans, published independently.

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Jordan Hatfield on Instagram
Dawn Violet on The Internet

In the first half, 2018's Florence and a stunning soundtrack by Kevin Penkin takes Jordan Hatfield and Dawn Violet on an emotional journey with its enchanting duets and charming gameplay. In the back half, a field trip to Detroit, Michigan brings the BGM Gems hosts into the audience of HEALTH, Carpenter Brut, and Desire for a night of brutal music that featured songs discussed in three previous episodes of this very podcast!

Music in order of appearance

Interview with Sophie Curtis from Cygnus Arioso

A Podcast made by humans, published independently.

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Dawn Violet checks in with a quick BGM Gems update!
Keep following the BGM Gems podcast feed for our upcoming episode on Florence ~
Sorry for the delay, turns out it's kinda hard to record when both of your hosts (including one who's the editor) move in the same month lmao


A Podcast made by humans, published independently.

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What is a Touhou? Jordan Hatfield & Dawn Violet… might know. Maybe you'll find out if you listen to this episode all about Team Shanghai Alice's Touhou Project! The hundreds of thousands (yes, actually) of fan works make this handily the largest body of Video Game Music yet seen on BGM gems, and maybe ever!!

Music in order of appearance

OutOfCharacters' Video essay on U.N Owen Was Her? / Death Waltz

Romantique Tp's PC-98 recreation project

Listen to Gensokyo Radio on the internet.

TouhouDB hosts the Touhou Music Database.

The English Touhou Wiki is an invaluable source of information on Touhou Project.
Lots of fan works live on Moriya Shrine!

A Podcast made by humans, published independently.

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Dawn Violet on The Internet

In their album of the soundtrack of the game of the year spectacular, hosts Jordan Hatfield & Dawn Violet discuss standout media from 2025, despite recording and releasing said spectacular well into January. 

It's the January episode!

Music in order of apperance

Timestamps
00:00 hi
00:17 good morning!
03:22 games, soundtracks, and nonsense
52:38 2025 music chat~
1:46:55 bye!

intro and outro themes by ayr
BGM Gems hosted by Jordan Hatfield & Dawn Violet
Produced & engineered by Dawn Violet
Edited by Dawn Violet & Jordan Hatfield

A Podcast made by humans, published independently.

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Q-Up Composers Connor Lofdahl and Martin Nayeri sit with BGM Gems Co-Host Dawn Violet to discuss their Original Soundtrack for 2025's Q-UP, by Everybody House Games. 

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See the video version of this discussion:
https://youtu.be/UoTep7b1suQ

Music sourced from the Q-UP Soundtrack on bandcamp

https://kariomart.bandcamp.com/album/q-up-ost

Music that inspired Q-UP as shared by kariomart and Blue Cayman

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5NgS1nLT2BP9ia5U5u4Aus?si=4f96ce6a94f04598

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=480Q_aZUcxw

RamonPang's carRADIO Drum & Bass mix

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IK3L7OrPE4

Follow BGM Gems on your favorite podcatcher for the latest episodes discussing video game music large, small, and weird. 

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HEALTH's one-of-a-kind score for Rockstar's Max Payne 3 sets the bar for composition in cinematic games. BGM Gems hosts Jordan Hatfield and Dawn Violet dissect a cult classic of video game music, and how it affected one of the most prominent industrial bands performing now.

Music from Max Payne 3 by HEALTH in order of appearance:
-Max Payne Theme 
-PAINKILLER
-THE GIRL
-SHELLS
-9 Circulos by Emicida
-MAX: FAVELA
-MAX: NJ
-DEAD
-Max Payne 3 pause menu music (unreleased)
-THE IMPERIAL PALACE
-PILLS
-TEARS

Max Payne Theme composed by Kärtsy Hatakka & Kimmo Kajasto, performed for this episode by Dawn Violet
Interview clip with  Kärtsy Hatakka via Riffmag

Excellent articles which informed this podcast:

BGM Gems hosted by Jordan Hatfield & Dawn Violet
Produced, engineered, and edited by Dawn Violet.

A Podcast made by humans, published independently.

Dennaton Games' neon-soaked duology is lauded for soundtracks of diverse, thumping techno music. BGM Gems hosts Dawn Violet and Jordan Hatfield look at the licensed score's influence and ask themselves if they like hurting people.

 Music from Hotline Miami and Hotline Miami 2 in order of appearance:

 Noclip documentary

BGM Gems hosted by Jordan Hatfield & Dawn Violet
Produced, engineered, and edited by Dawn Violet.

A Podcast made by humans, published independently.

In the sophomore episode of BGM Gems, hosts Jordan Hatfield & Dawn Violet and consider whether Trent Reznor & Nine Inch Nails' soundtrack for Quake (1996) is even music at all. 
Listen, and Quake out. 

Music from Quake (1996) in order of appearance by Trent Reznor & Nine Inch Nails

Further music from the Quake extended universe...

LGR Quake Review

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0XOKSat57Q

Quake game sound effects created by Trent Reznor & Nine Inch Nails
Additional music/ambience for this episode by ayr

In Episode 1 of BGM Gems, Dawn Violet and Jordan Hatfield break into the corner of music where Drum & Bass meets Video Games. From the 1990s to the 2020s, they'll look at DnB including

...and plenty more.

Listen, or dance.

Samples in order of appearance:

Halifax by Aquasky on Rollcage Stage II

Barcelona and Imola by Daniel Masson on F1 Racing Championship

Cool of Battle by Floating Door on Echo Point Nova

Tripod and Redial by Jun Chikuma on Bomberman Hero

Deadline by Technical Itch on Rollcage Stage II

Displaced by Amon Tobin on Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory

Thread6 by Neil D. Voss on The New Tetris

Blue Flame by Kenta Nagata on 1080 Snowboarding

The Cyber Grind by meganeko on ULTRAKILL

Theme music by ayr

Produced, engineered, and edited by Dawn Violet.

A Podcast made by humans, published independently.