By MinnMax
4.8
8888 ratings
The podcast currently has 42 episodes available.
Hello CrossFade subscribers! This is MinnMax's Ben Hanson with a one-off interruption of this wonderful feed. In honor of MinnMax's 2nd anniversary, we're celebrating "Free Week" and lifting the curtain to offer free tastes of our Patreon-exclusive content. So this is The Deepest Dive on Final Fantasy VII Remake, the first part of our gigantic community game club on our Game of the Year for 2020. Normally we post The Deepest Dives on YouTube and offer the podcast version of the discussions to Patreon supporters, but here it is available to everybody for free!
If you're a CrossFade fan, we're sorry for this inconvenience but we hope you enjoy the discussion! We do technically rave about the soundtrack. New CrossFade episodes will be on the way with Matt Helgeson and Jason Dafnis in the new year.
If you're a fan of The Deepest Dive, we hope you enjoy the ability to listen to the discussion as a podcast and hope you consider supporting MinnMax on Patreon to unlock the rest of the series on Final Fantasy VII Remake. You'll also unlock podcast versions of Max Spoilers, MinnMax Interviews, and our Deepest Dives on Metroid Dread, Dead Space, Mass Effect 1, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Cyberpunk 2077, Spider-Man: Miles Morales, The Thing, Super Mario 64, Halo: Combat Evolved, The Last of Us Part II, What Remains of Edith Finch, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Chrono Trigger, and The Outer Worlds.
Synced Up Podcast
Timmy Tie Oh No
Fixture Gaming Fixture S1
Iam8bit
Zachary Pligge
Ludwig Roque
Bryan with a Y
Andrew vala
BeatenDownBrian
PrettyGoodPrinting.com
Jawarhello
mark seliga
John Higby
Mirko Arico-Torreno
Conner McCabe
Drew Waranis
Dan Villone
Steve Bamdad
Purebrednumber6
Clemens Zobel
Ted Ryser
Starkiller
Spider_Dan
SpiralInYourEyes
Preetham Yarlagadda
GeneralNadine99
And that’s a wrap on Season 1 of CrossFade! We’ll be back with new episodes in 2022. For now, we wanted to celebrate our supporters with another Community Shuffle, where we shuffle their favorite songs and talk about what shakes out! This episode’s crop is particularly vibrant, so be sure to check it out to discover great new (or classic) music you might just love!
A huge thank you to everyone who listens for your songs, questions, and insight! Matt and Jason will still troll around the MinnMax Discord and you can find them on Twitter at https://twitter.com/MattHelgeson and https://twitter.com/nintendufus respectively.
Support MinnMax on Patreon and get access to tons of great, exclusive content: https://www.patreon.com/minnmax/
Listen to the CrossFade Community Playlist of our community’s favorite music:
To jump to a particular discussion, check out the timestamps below…
0:00 - The CrossFade Community Shuffle: The Replacements, fire-toolz, Neutral Milk Hotel & More
3:04 - The Replacements - “Can’t Hardly Wait” (Devin Brooks)
8:58 - Takeharu Ishimoto - “Breaking Free” (Tactical Dreamer)
11:45 - Portishead - “Plastic” (Internet.Levi)
14:33 - The World/Inferno Friendship Society - “Just the Best Party” (Jason Wojnar)
18:41 - The 1975 - “If You’re Too Shy (Let Me Know)” (Mitch)
23:52 - Parov Stelar - “Djangos Revenge” (Digtron)
27:12 - TWRP - “Feels Pretty Good” (Bread)
31:12 - Sturgill Simpson - “Make Art Not Friends” (Matt Rogers)
35:05 - Keane - “Sovereign Light Café” (Joel Hopkins)
37:57 - Crying - “There Was a Door” (Carlos Lima)
44:45 - Froukje - “Groter Dan Ik” (Kees ('Case') Mulder)
47:59 - Ghost - “Bible” (CalebMurray)
52:23 - CHVRCHES - “Bow Down” (Geoff Enright)
55:48 - 16 Horsepower - “Splinters” (Authoritarian)
58:31 - Neutral Milk Hotel - “In the Aeroplane Over the Sea” (Brian Corliss)
1:01:49 - Youth Sector - “Teeth” (James Burkett)
1:03:40 - fire-toolz - “mailto:[email protected]?subject=Mind-Body Parallels / Clear Light” (podbod)
1:06:37 - Earth, Wind & Fire - “September” (The Pattycake (Patrick H.))
1:10:23 - Aesop Rock - “Gopher Guts” (Breadward)
1:14:04 - Chen Yue - “Trail of The Angels” (Mike Lynch)
If at first you don't succeed, listen, listen again – welcome Tom Salta (Deathloop, Tom Clancy’s Advanced Warfighter, Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands, PUBG, Wolfenstein: Youngblood, and many more) to CrossFade!
Tom’s a big production guy, so Peter Gabriel’s tight instrumentation and arrangements on “So” make it a really pivotal album for him. “Houses of the Holy” isn’t Led Zeppelin’s most-played album, but it’s one of their funkiest. Matt fell in love with its bigness and groove, so it’s a great complement to Peter Gabriel’s pop sensibilities. (And, according to Reddit, it has the second-fewest instances of Robert Plant singing “baby” of all of Led Zeppelin’s albums. Huh!)
Follow Tom on Twitter at https://twitter.com/TomSalta and find his work at https://www.tomsalta.com/
Deathloop is out Sept. 14
Support MinnMax on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/minnmax/
Listen to the CrossFade Community Playlist, featuring 340 of our community’s favorite songs (and counting):
To jump to a particular discussion, check out the timestamps below…
0:00 - Peter Gabriel & Led Zeppelin with Tom Salta
1:10 - Tom’s collabs, creds, & how he pivoted to video game music
12:00 - Peter Gabriel’s “So”
14:22 - Red Rain
17:35 - Sledgehammer
20:56 - Don’t Give Up
24:03 - Mercy Street
28:32 - Big Time
34:13 - In Your Eyes
36:26 - Led Zeppelin’s “Houses of the Holy”
39:42 - The Song Remains the Same
43:21 - The Ocean
46:10 - D’yer Mak’er
47:29 - The Crunge
50:00 - Dancing Days
52:33 - Over the Hills and Far Away
56:20 - No Quarter
1:00:22 - Community Questions (writing familiar stuff, your life in four songs & more)
1:13:46 - Deserta - “Be So Blue” (suggested by MinnMax supporter RedVIII)
Go inside the mind that created the music for the best-known video game about going inside people’s minds: Peter McConnell is on CrossFade!
WIth Peter, we dissect the music of Ivan Tcherepnin, Peter’s late mentor and experimental/avant garde composer of the 20th century, and “Axis: Bold as Love,” the second record from The Jimi Hendrix Experience. Together, we find the little connections between Hendrix’s mystical playing and the sonic innovations of Tcherepnin. We also talk to Peter about creating music for LucasArts and Double Fine, writing songs for Jack Black, and the connection between opera and video games.
Then we turn to the MinnMax community for fun questions about bands we dream of playing with, how interactive music has changed over Peter’s 30-year career, and more!
(If you’re not a big classical music head, don’t worry! Peter makes it all easy to follow along and appreciate.)
Follow Peter on Twitter at https://twitter.com/PeterNMcConnell
Pre-order Peter’s Psychonauts 2 soundtrack at https://skilltreerecords.com/album/2022998/psychonauts-2-original-soundtrack-vol-1
Psychonauts 2 is out now
Support MinnMax on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/minnmax/
Listen to the CrossFade Community Playlist of our community’s favorite music:
To jump to a particular discussion, check out the timestamps below…
0:00 - Jimi Hendrix & Ivan Tcherepnin with Peter McConnell
00:59 - Peter’s music background
5:31 - Writing music for Jack Black
9:07 - Working themes from Psychonauts 1 into the sequel
15:16 - What Peter learned from Ivan Tcherepnin
24:53 - The Music of Ivan Tcherepnin
25:30 - Flores Musicales : I. Overture - P’tite P’tite
30:57 - Five Songs: I. Do-Mi
41:25 - Five Songs: IV. Queues
46:50 - Flores Musicales: III. Grand Fire Music
49:55 - Santur Live! Overture: The Situation in The Land
52:57 - The Jimi Hendrix Experience’s “Axis: Bold as Love”
57:12 - Spanish Castle Magic
1:01:03 - Wait Until Tomorrow
1:04:32 - Little Wing
1:10:03 - If 6 Was 9
1:16:01 - Bold as Love
1:22:36 - Community Questions (writing music for ‘place,’ interactive music through the decades, bands we wanna play with & more)
1:45:21 - Fleet Foxes - “The Shrine/An Argument” (suggested by MinnMax supporter Thom Blackburn)
The gods of guesting have been kind to us once again, and Darren Korb, audio director for Supergiant Games (Hades, Bastion, Transistor, Pyre) and voice of Zagreus in Hades, has landed in our lap to talk of Beatles and Queens!
Darren loves how weird, inventive, and well-produced The Beatles’ penultimate album “Abbey Road” is, and in this episode, he talks about how that blend makes him think about his own music in different ways. Queens of the Stone Age’s “Songs for the Deaf” isn’t actually that, but it is full of mean riffs and precise Dave Grohl drumming, and that adds up to what Darren calls “heavy stoner rock.”
Our community portion is chock-full of fun questions from our Patreon patrons about favorite guitar tunings, our first-ever “favorite” songs, who has the best “best-of” album, and much more!
Support MinnMax on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/minnmax/
Donate to the Crossfade HopeWell Music School Charity Drive at https://www.givemn.org/Crossfade
Follow Darren on Twitter at https://twitter.com/darrenkorb
Hear Darren’s voice, music, and production in Hades, out this week on PlayStation and Xbox platforms https://www.supergiantgames.com/games/hades/
Listen to the CrossFade Community Playlist of our community’s favorite music:
To jump to a particular discussion, check out the timestamps below…
0:00 - The Beatles vs. Queens of the Stone Age (feat. Darren Korb)
3:48 - Darren’s time as Rock Band 2 US champ
8:56 - The Beatles’ “Abbey Road”
13:04 - Come Together
17:12 - Something
20:14 - Maxwell’s Silver Hammer
22:49 - Octopus’s Garden
24:30 - I Want You (She’s So Heavy)
27:55 - Here Comes The Sun
30:57 - Side two of Abbey Road
31:58 - You Never Give Me Your Money
36:17 - Sun King
39:56 - Mean Mr Mustard
41:02 - Polythene Pam
42:20 - She Came In Through The Bathroom Window
44:13 - Golden Slumbers
45:45 - Carry That Weight
47:22 - The End
49:46 - Her Majesty
51:55 - Queens of the Stone Age’s “Songs for the Deaf”
53:42 - No One Knows
56:54 - You Think I Ain’t Worth A Dollar, But I Feel Like A Millionaire
1:00:22 - First It Giveth
1:02:49 - Song For The Dead
1:08:25 - Go With The Flow
1:12:23 - Hanging Tree
1:16:20 - Do It Again
1:21:10 - Another Love Song
1:26:04 - Community Questions (writing music, best “best-of” albums, favorite guitar tunings & more)
1:51:33 - Bruce Springsteen - “Magic” (suggested by MinnMax supporter Jeremiah Parks)
This one’s a biggie – Marty O’Donnell, composer for games like Halo, Destiny, Riven, and current audio director for Highwire Games, is on CrossFade to talk about one of the albums that convinced him to stop just playing music and start composing instead!
Gentle Giant’s “Octopus” is one of Marty’s favorite records and “hugely influential” to his path as a musician and composer. If not for this album and the friends he made over it, he may have stuck to performing piano – and some of your favorite video games would sound a whole lot different.
Matt’s pick, the equally English “The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society,” was a critical underdog that’s achieved new life as a cult classic in the 50+ years since its release. Matt thinks it’s better than The Beatles in some ways. Don’t tell him I wrote that here. I wanna make him explain that take on a future episode.
We also talk about Marty’s stint as a commercial jingle writer, the importance of having a hook, 16th century counterpoint, Marty’s weirdest influences, and much more, including a great series of questions from the MinnMax community!
Support MinnMax on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/minnmax/
Listen to the CrossFade Community Playlist of our community’s favorite music:
To jump to a particular discussion, check out the timestamps below…
0:00 - The Kinks vs. Gentle Giant (feat. Marty O’Donnell)
1:32 - Marty’s path to composing
4:23 - The appeal of classical music in rock
7:26 - Formal training and finding Gentle Giant
11:48 - Learning the importance of a hook from commercials
17:49 - How technology influences Marty’s composition
20:58 - Gentle Giant’s “Octopus” (Steven Wilson Mix)
22:56 - The Advent of Panurge
30:38 - The time Marty met Gentle Giant in an elevator
33:20 - Raconteur Troubadour
37:51 - A Cry for Everyone
42:26 - River
45:47 - The Boys in the Band
50:08 - Think of Me with Kindness
57:01 - Knots
1:00:36 - The Kinks’ “The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society”
1:02:15 - The Village Green Preservation Society
1:05:12 - Do You Remember Walter?
1:07:54 - Animal Farm
1:14:51 - Picture Book
1:18:47 - Phenomenal Cat
1:22:12 - Village Green
1:25:06 - All of My Friends Were There
1:29:55 - Community Questions (weirdest influences, Music of the Spheres, British music, Marty wants to make Zelda music & more)
1:55:32 - M.I.A. - “Pull Up the People” (suggested by MinnMax supporter Jonnythan 12)
Welcome musician, activist, and founder of Asian Man Records Mike Park (https://twitter.com/mikeparkmusic) to CrossFade! Mike’s run his own record label for 25 years, in addition to all the music he’s written and played or the anti-racism activism he’s done throughout his career. We couldn’t be more excited to have him on the show – and talking about a record he released, no less!
Alkaline Trio’s “Goddamnit” launched one of the most successful punk pop careers of the 2000s. It’s also still one of Mike's favorites – a record he can listen to back to front and get the same out of it as he did in 1998. He’s got a bunch of fun nuggets about bringing this album to life, like the fact that it cost only $1,000 to record. (That’s kinda crazy.)
The Exploding Hearts’s career was cut short with the untimely deaths of three band members, and their one and only record, “Guitar Romantic,” is audible proof of the gap it left in popular music. Reminiscent of ‘70s and ‘80s punk pop, the album carves its own identity by referencing styles that came before without feeling redundant.
In the back end of this episode, we field questions about the deaths of musicians we love, what Mike thought of blink-182 in their earliest days and today, bands that split singing duties, and more great questions from our Patreon supporters!
Follow Mike on Twitter at https://twitter.com/mikeparkmusic, find Asian Man Records at https://asianmanrecords.com/, and listen to Mike’s music wherever you listen to music
Support MinnMax on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/minnmax/
Listen to the CrossFade Community Playlist of our community’s favorite music:
Watch Mike sing Alkaline Trio’s “Sorry About That” with Matt Skiba: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyHM0lP1whE
Find out more about The Sidewalk Project, a nonprofit battling homelessness co-founded by punk artists, at https://www.thesidewalkproject.org/
To jump to a particular discussion, check out the timestamps below…
0:00 - Alkaline Trio vs. The Exploding Hearts (feat. Mike Park)
1:27 - About Asian Man Records
3:41 - The state of ska
6:41 - Music and anti-racism action in 2021
10:28 - Alkaline Trio’s “Goddamnit”
12:44 - Cringe
15:33 - San Francisco
20:43 - Trouble Breathing
25:01 - Southern Rock
28:40 - Sorry About That
32:15 - Nose Over Tail
35:05 - Message From Kathlene
39:05 - The Exploding Hearts’ “Guitar Romantic”
42:29 - Modern Kicks
45:31 - I’m a Pretender
48:51 - Rumors in Town
51:32 - Sleeping Aides and Razorblades
57:02 - Throwaway Style
1:02:05 - Community Questions (processing musicians’ deaths, blink-182, multi-singer bands, & more)
1:19:12 - Paul Collins’ Beat - “Rock ‘N’ Roll Girl” (suggested by MinnMax supporter Kris Paul)
Welcome MinnMax cohort, streamer, writer, critic, and former teacher Janet Garcia (https://twitter.com/gameonysus) to CrossFade!
Foo Fighters was one of the bands that helped Janet discover music outside of hip-hop, so “In Your Honor” holds a really important place in her heart (and her running playlist). Matt’s pick, Kendrick Lamar’s breakthrough “good kid, m.A.A.d city” is a stunningly stylized masterwork of Compton rap storytelling. It’s so well-written, Janet even used it to teach an English class once. All that plus a bunch of great community questions in the back half of the episode!
Follow Janet on Twitter at https://twitter.com/gameonysus and find her work at https://linktr.ee/gameonysus
Support MinnMax on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/minnmax/
Listen to the CrossFade Community Playlist of our community’s favorite music:
To jump to a particular discussion, check out the timestamps below…
0:00 - Foo Fighters vs. Kendrick Lamar (feat. Janet Garcia)
2:53 - Foo Fighters’ “In Your Honor”
3:46 - In Your Honor
12:44 - Best Of You
17:12 - DOA
23:10 - Hell
27:03 - What If I Do?
30:49 - On The Mend
34:09 - Another Round
35:38 - Friend Of A Friend
39:32 - Virginia Moon
42:30 - Razor
49:18 - Kendrick Lamar’s “good kid, m.A.A.d city”
52:26 - Bitch, Don’t Kill My Vibe
58:31 - Backseat Freestyle
1:03:55 - The Art of Peer Pressure
1:08:44 - Poetic Justice
1:12:32 - Swimming Pools (Drank)
1:16:33 - good kid
1:19:43 - m.A.A.d city
1:25:22 - Sing About Me, I’m Dying Of Thirst
1:38:39 - Community Questions (Dave Grohl, “honorary” bands, Bo Burnham, analyzing vs. vibing to songs, & more)
2:06:23 - The Alchemist feat. Earl Sweatshirt - “Loose Change” (suggested by MinnMax supporter Kees (‘Case’) Mulder)
Jason Graves has composed for games, movies, TV (including Dead Space, Until Dawn, Tomb Raider, The Order: 1886, The Dark Pictures Anthology, and a lot more) for decades, and now he’s on CrossFade!
Jason discovered Rush sometime in high school – just the right age to be listening to new, weird stuff. A drummer, he naturally gravitated toward Neil Peart’s meticulous, mathematical rhythms on “2112,” many of which still amaze him today. We spend a good bit of time unpacking the virtuosity and paradoxical openness of Rush’s landmark odyssey.
Matt’s pick, Curtis Mayfield’s film soundtrack record “Super Fly,” is way more about the steady groove than the switch-up, but it’s still full of surprises. And man, just get a load of that fat bass tone! Even when it’s not telling a story, “Super Fly” is on a journey. A hip, funky journey. Come along with us.
Follow Jason on Twitter at https://twitter.com/jgmusic and find his work at https://jasongraves.com/
Support MinnMax on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/minnmax/
Listen to the CrossFade Community Playlist of our community’s favorite music:
To jump to a particular discussion, check out the timestamps below…
0:00 - Curtis Mayfield vs. Rush (feat. Jason Graves)
1:59 - Jason’s background in music
7:58 - Rush’s “2112”
16:11 - I. Overture
24:20 - II. Temples of Syrinx
28:29 - III. Discovery
32:14 - IV. Presentation
35:12 - V. Oracle: The Dream
38:09 - VII. The Grand Finale
40:09 - A Passage to Bangkok
44:19 - The Twilight Zone
48:00 - Lessons
56:08 - Curtis Mayfield’s “Super Fly”
1:01:28 - Super Fly
1:04:19 - Little Child Runnin’ Wild
1:08:51 - Junkie Chase
1:10:54 - Freddie’s Dead
1:15:07 - Pusherman
1:19:41 - Eddie You Should Know Better
1:22:34 - Community Questions: Abandoning art, songs that make you feel cool & more
1:41:34 - Slipknot - “The Heretic Anthem” (suggested by MinnMax supporter Mike Lynch)
Lizzie Killian (FIFTYcc, chiptune rock band The Glowing Stars, formerly of Zynga, Humble Bundle, GamesRadar & more) joins this Weez-tastic episode of CrossFade!
Something about “Pinkerton” caught Lizzie’s ear in high school. Maybe it was the rough production, disarmingly vulnerable lyrics, or just the solid solos – whatever it was, it quickly became one of her favorite albums ever. She even named her own band, The Glowing Stars, after a lyric from the track “Falling For You.”
Matt’s pick, “A Laughing Death in Meatspace” by Australian psych rock band Tropical Fuck Storm, engages with the modern world in a way that doesn’t feel cheesy. It touches on politics, imperialism, class divide, human obsolescence, and more on top of unique, beautifully crunchy synth-and-overdrive textures.
Follow Lizzie on Twitter at https://twitter.com/lizziekillian/ and find her work at https://www.fiftycc.net/
Listen to Lizzie’s chiptune rock band, The Glowing Stars at https://theglowingstars.bandcamp.com/ and wherever you get music
Support MinnMax on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/minnmax/
Listen to the CrossFade Community Playlist of our community’s favorite music:
To jump to a particular discussion, check out the timestamps below…
00:00 - Weezer vs. Tropical Fuck Storm (feat. Lizzie Killian)
4:02 - Weezer - “Pinkerton”
8:25 - “Tired of Sex”
12:49 - “Why Bother?”
14:37 - “The Good Life”
20:39 - “Across The Sea”
26:41 - “El Scorcho”
31:40 - “Falling For You”
35:48 - “Butterfly”
39:11 - Considering Weezer’s trajectory
43:23 - Tropical Fuck Storm - “A Laughing Death in Meatspace”
47:04 - “Shellfish Toxin”
52:47 - “You Let My Tyres Down”
58:38 - “Chameleon Paint”
1:00:41 - “The Future of History”
1:05:56 - “Soft Power”
1:13:36 - “A Laughing Death in Meatspace”
1:20:49 - Community Questions - Ranking Weezer, George Harrison vs. ABBA, misheard lyrics, video game PR
1:49:57 - Hop Along - “Sister Cities” (suggested by MinnMax supporter Drew Masciarelli)
The podcast currently has 42 episodes available.