Line #50 Music/C418


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/c418.jpg]]
2
3	->''"I didn't pretend that I was good at writing music, so I wrote terrible music, intentionally. As time went on, the terrible subsided, and I started getting good."''
4
5	[[http://c418.org/ Daniel Rosenfeld]] (born May 9, 1989), better known as [=C418=] (pronounced "C-four-eighteen", not "C-four-one-eight") is a German electronic musician and sound engineer best known for composing the soundtrack to ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}''. He and Notch would later try collaborating again with a game called ''[[VideoGame/ZeroXOneZeroC 0x10c]]'' that eventually got scrapped.
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7	He has released a lot of independent work which can be listened to on his [[http://c418.bandcamp.com/ Bandcamp page]].
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9	His unique style blends elements of {{ambient}}, [[HouseMusic house]], {{trance}}, and IDM.
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11	!!Discography
12	* ''bps'' (Dec 2007)
13	* ''The whatever directors cut'' (January 2008)
14	* ''Mixes'' (May 2008)
15	* ''sine'' (September 2008)
16	* ''zweitonegoismus'' (December 2008)
17	* ''Bushes and Marshmallows'' (August 2009)
18	* ''A Cobblers Tee Thug'' (January 2010)
19	* ''circle'' (March 2010)
20	* ''life changing moments seem minor in pictures'' (August 2010)
21	* ''little things'' (January 2011)
22	* ''Minecraft – Volume Alpha'' (March 2011) (the ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'' soundtrack, with some bonus material)
23	* ''I forgot something, didn’t I?'' (July 2011)
24	* ''72 Minutes Of Fame'' (July 2011)
25	* ''Seven Years of Server Data'' (November 2011)
26	* ''Catacomb Snatch Original Soundtrack'' (March 2012)
27	* ''one'' (December 2012) (the soundtrack to the Mojang documentary, with some bonus material)
28	* ''Minecraft - Volume Beta'' (November 2013) (the second VideoGame/{{Minecraft}} soundtrack with songs that are to be added to the game, also includes the rest of the music discs)
29	* ''148'' (December 2015)
30	* ''2 years of failure'' (September 2016)
31	* ''Dief'' (March 2017)
32	* ''Excursions'' (September 2018)
33	* ''Cookie Clicker'' (September 2021)
34
35	----
36	!!Tropes featured in [=C418=]'s music include:
37	* AllLowercaseLetters: The vast majority of his song and album titles are not capitalized- the main exceptions are the two official Minecraft soundtracks, ''Volume Alpha'' and ''Volume Beta''.
38	* TheAntiNihilist: C418 seems to be ''very'' doubtful about his own capabilities as a music artist, as shown in plenty of his songs. This includes "I Jate My Hob" (I Hate My Job) from ''[=LCMSMiP=]'' (the entire album is about his shift into becoming a music artist, really), "Alive" from ''72 [=MoF=]'', which is about him questioning his old job; and "Blank Cubicle" from ''Dief'', which is about him questioning the paths he could've taken in life and the consequences of such. He's also prone to SelfDeprecation as he thinks that his music is bad, though his fans assure him otherwise. Despite this, the music he makes in itself is somehow cheerful, showing that he doesn't let this negativity overcome him.
39	* BreakingTheFourthWall: ''Bushes and Marshmallows'' includes a track of silence called "Turn". The next song, "Edward", begins with a vocal singing, "It is done. The album's done. Close your player, the album's done. ("Edward" is then followed by the song "What".)
40	* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: C418 is an odd person, which is reflected in his music and his digital footprint. Even the ambient ''Minecraft'' music he's known for poses some semblance of strangeness to it, even if he ''is'' trying to fit into the elegant freeform environment the game provides with his music.
41	* ConceptAlbum: According to the musician, ''Excursions'' is supposed to feel like a journey through the messy parts of New York City.
42	* DarkerAndEdgier: ''Minecraft - Volume Beta'' is C418's darkest album. However, it's his ''only'' darker album, as none of his other albums match its sense of dread by comparison. Even then, it's still rather lighthearted, because [[GoodCannotComprehendEvil Daniel is too much of an idealist]].
43	* DroneOfDread: ''Minecraft - Volume Beta'' includes a few pieces written as background music exclusive to the [[{{Hell}} Nether]], such as "Concrete Halls" and "Warmth", which are heavy with low, foreboding tones evoking the dangerous, yet lonely nature of the dimension.
44	* EverythingIsAnInstrument
45	** He uses what sounds like pots and pans in a kitchen sink in "water" from ''Seven Years of Server Data''.
46	** Rhythmic mechanical keyboard clacking intended to represent Minecraft's programmers hard at work form part of the percussion backing in "surface pension" from ''one''.
47	* IAmTheBand: C418 is Daniel Rosenfeld, playing keyboards and synthesizers with himself.
48	* {{Instrumentals}}: His work predominantly lacks vocals of any kind. Notable [[SubvertedTrope exceptions]] include the various remixes of "Tsuki no Koibumi" (vocals by Creator/LauraShigihara), and a handful of songs on ''148''.
49	* LonelyPianoPiece: "Sweden" is based on the same minimalist, fading, primarily-piano principle as "Minecraft", the song C418 built ''Volume Alpha'' around, and subsequently the eponymous game's musical character.
50	* NiceGuy: In spite of Dan's [[WithUsOrAgainstUs open political beliefs and how devoted he is to them]], he is ultimately someone who sees the positives in life and likes to make his music for the sake of it. He's also rather humble about it (well, self-deprecating, anyway), as he doesn't consider his music to be of any real quality and more [[{{Troll}} the result of messing around with a studio]], and will only decide to release things that he considers 'ready enough' rather than rushing his work.
51	* NonAppearingTitle: "Tsuki no Koibumi", "Semantic Sanitation", "Septic Shock", "Seismic Stratigraphy", "Ample Time", "Habitual Crush", "Round Up to the Inevitable End", "841", and "Blank Cubicle" are all songs with vocals, but their titles never appear in any of those songs in question, or come close to doing so. In terms of "Tsuki no Koibumi", though it's in a foreign language, the phrase is never heard, and in terms of "841", the entire song is a repeat of the ''reverse'' number (148) like the title of the album it's from, so its title never appears either.
52	* TheNotRemix: "Vierton"[[note]]A remix of "Dreiton" from ''Minecraft - Volume Beta''.[[/note]], "Aria Economy"[[note]]A remix of "Aria Math" from ''Minecraft - Volume Beta''.[[/note]], "Biome Party"[[note]]A remix of "Biome Fest" from ''Minecraft - Volume Beta''.[[/note]] and "Beta"[[note]]A remix of "Sweden" from ''Minecraft - Volume Alpha''.[[/note]] from ''148'' are remixes of pre-existing ''Minecraft'' songs. The arrangement and general sequencing isn't altered that significantly from their original versions, however, mostly being comprised of the original songs with an electronic beat layered on top and the original song audio slowed down, though "Vierton" is mostly a rearranging due to starting from the second half.
53	* NumberedSequels: "Moog City" and "Beginning" on ''Volume Alpha'' are remade on ''Volume Beta'' and use the same titles with a "2" at the end.
54	* OneWordTitle: ''Many'' of his song titles are singular words, too many to list specific ones.
55	* PopCulturalOsmosis: He's most well known for the ambient soundtrack to VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}. Because of this, he deliberately avoided producing ambient music on several subsequent albums, aiming more for house and electronica.
56	* SecondaryCharacterTitle: In the context of his friends being the secondary characters.
57	** "Danny" on ''Minecraft - Volume Alpha'' refers to Danny Baranowsky, someone who also releases music on Bandcamp like Daniel does.
58	** "Taswell" on ''Minecraft - Volume Beta'' refers to Ryan Davis from Giant Bomb, a game review site.
59	* SelfBackingVocalist: When there are vocals in the songs, the singers will be the ones backing themselves, whether it's him or Creator/LauraShigihara.
60	* SelfDeprecation:
61	** Common on his former blog, and to a lesser extent on his website.
62	---> "Here you'll find some articles about who I am and why I'm such a dork"
63	** "Habitual Crush" from ''148'' is mostly the protagonist lamenting how they obviously don't deserve affection despite having lied and screwed up.
64	* SpeciesTitle: "Cat" and "Dog" on ''Volume Alpha'' alongside "Dragon Fish" and "Axolotl" from the Aquatic Update are titled based on an animal species.
65	* StageWhisper: Daniel whispering '4, 1, 8, 2' in the left speaker can be heard very slightly before 'Round Up to the Inevitable End' enters its first status of percussive crescendo.
66	* TakeThatAudience: "Friend" from ''148'' is an angry piece that repeatedly tells someone they aren't the protagonist's friend and to go away. According to Rosenfeld, the song was directed at all of the people who follow him on Twitter just to bash him.
67	-->''“Friend” is a secret message to all the Twitter followers who hate me but still insist on following me. Why? Leave me alone. You are not my friend.''
68	%%commented out due to Administrivia/ZeroContextExample * UncommonTime: Often.
69	* VariableMix: ''Dief'' was written to accompany Teddy Dief's" 2017 Game Developers Conference presentation [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1gdAKEqEpI "Still Grooving: Game Dev Life Set to Live Music"]]. Rosenfeld deliberately made sure every song on the album had the same tempo so that he could quickly switch tracks as the presentation progressed.
70	* WordSaladTitle
71	** The album ''a cobblers tee thug'' was made in five days "for shits and giggles" (to quote Rosenfeld) as a collaboration with his friend sohnemann.
72	** "I glove thy flob" from ''one'', in addition to being [[NeverTrustATitle nonindicative]], is a cover of Pachelbel's "Canon in D" done in a mix of Minecraft note blocks, piano, and some synthesized sounds.
73	* XtremeKoolLetterz: The title for "Kompass" on ''148'', a collaboration with Disasterpeace, is the word 'compass' with a k instead of a c.

Context Music / C418