Minecraft - Volume Beta

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Minecraft - Volume Beta

Minecraft - Volume Beta.jpg

AKA Minecraft Volume Beta
Release date 2013-11-09
Genre Ambient, Dark Ambient, IDM, Minimal Techno, Orchestral
Running time 2:20:49
Bandcamp $7 or more
Apple Music/iTunes $9.99
Spotify Ad-supported

Minecraft - Volume Beta is an album by C418 released in 2013 containing the songs that were added to Minecraft in the Java Edition music update. Like Minecraft - Volume Alpha, not every track is used within Minecraft.

To date, it is C418's longest album, at nearly 2 hours and 21 minutes in length.

Official descriptions

The second official soundtrack of Minecraft. 140 minutes in length and extremely varied.

Featuring the all-new Creative Mode, menu tunes, the horrors of the Nether, the end's odd and misleading soothing ambiance and all the missing record discs from the game!

It's my longest album ever, and I hope you'll love the amount of work I crammed into it.
This is the second part to the official soundtrack to the most popular video game in recent history. Critics like to compare the style of my album to Erik Satie, Roedelius, and Brian Eno. Aphex Twin also once said I stole his style.

The big difference of Volume Beta is that the tone is both more positive and at times very dark. Some of the songs even have percussion, which is something that was a complete rarity with Volume Alpha. For example "Taswell" or "Aria Math".

A bunch of the songs are VERY long.

"Alpha", being 10 minutes, while “The End” clocks in at 15 minutes. And a lot of the “creative mode” songs are at least around 8 minutes in length.

Additionally, this soundtrack contains the collectible records, which are little vinyl songs you can find in Minecraft, the game. With the exception of "Cat". That song you can find on the previous soundtrack, Volume Alpha.

I released this album in late 2013 when I was about to be doing a gig in Mexico. Every time I think about this album, I get nostalgic about Mexico and how wildly different it is from the life I know from Germany or Canada. Though now that I think about it, I feel like Volume Alpha might be a love record to Europe, while Beta is dedicated to America and Asia. This might sound like gibberish to you, but to me it’s kind of a personal internalized opinion.
—C418

Tracks

Ki

Ki
Length 1:32
Bandcamp $1
"Ki", like "Key", on the previous album is an introduction to the album. But this time it’s not quiet, somber and welcoming, but dark and foreboding.
—C418

"Ki" is a reprise (a similar but slightly different version) of "Key" from Minecraft - Volume Alpha (note that both have the same pronunciation). It starts off with "Key" but includes more electronic music.

Alpha

Alpha
AKA credits
Length 10:03
Bandcamp $1
"Alpha" is a medley of past songs. It acts as the score that plays when you “beat” Minecraft, but it also acts as a celebration of past music from Volume Alpha.
—C418

"Alpha" is a reprise of some tracks from Minecraft - Volume Alpha, including "Minecraft," "Mice on Venus," "Moog City," and "Sweden". It plays during the End Poem, after defeating the Ender Dragon.

Trivia

  • "Alpha" was nominated as "The best C418 song of all times".
  • "Alpha" plays during the credits roll. The song was composed so it goes in sync with the End poem.
  • The title of the song is a reference to Minecraft - Volume Alpha.

Dead Voxel

Dead Voxel
AKA Nether2
Length 4:56
Bandcamp $1

"Dead Voxel" begins with a period of industrial-like ambient droning accompanied by wind and various echoing sounds, instrumentally consisting of a deep bass synthesizer and a synthesizer brass along with a subtle ticking. A piano is introduced and the filtered synthesizer brass plays in coincidence, eventually introducing a sparkling synthesizer playing a lead with a somber, distant melody that is then layered with synthesizer strings and metallic percussion. The synthesizer strings gain a second layer with a faster-paced rhythm as the metallic percussion also gains a more dramatic beat. The sparkling synthesizer then plays a distorted version of itself in coincidence with the percussion on ping-pong delay, the song in crescendo as the sounds gradually fade away.

During the song's conclusion, deep, lava-like bubbling can be heard as the ending melody of "Beginning" is played with variation, and the industrial-like ambient droning can be heard yet again. As it fades out, the song appears to replay the melodic tone of the droning from the beginning.

Trivia

  • "Dead Voxel" only plays in the Nether.
  • This is the first track on the album to be in-game ambiance.

Blind Spots

Blind Spots
AKA creative2
Length 5:32
Bandcamp $1
"Blind Spots" is the first song I wrote with the clear intention of having a unique soundtrack for Minecraft’s “Creative Mode”. I tried to create a piece that doesn’t particularly change much, but keeps reiterating on itself, like a constant remixing of its core theme. As the piece ends, it becomes very melancholic and solemn, but quickly returns to being positive. Things end, but that’s not bad.
—C418

"Blind Spots" begins with an ambient choir chord that continues throughout the song, embellishing when necessary, and a delayed piano sequence in a quarter-note rhythm and a major seventh key. The piano is supported by synthesizer strings and a bass, along with muffled and distorted sweeping chiptune-style synthesizer chords that filter in and out of the mix. Another chiptune-style synthesizer is added into the mix along with a secondary smooth ambient choir synthesizer, eventually leading to a glockenspiel-like instrument to be introduced and play a repeating melody as light percussion joins the song, allowing a transition to the second section of the song. In the second section, the percussion continues rhythmically in an four to the floor sequence as it is accompanied by a synthesizer orchestra and light piano notes, eventually being accompanied by a harp/kalimba arpeggio layered with a smooth synthesizer, transitioning to the third section of the song.

As the main choir continues, the harp/kalimba arpeggio converts into sporadic notes as the song changes to a minor key and a darker theme, leading to the introduction of a rhythmic delayed pizzicato and the continuation of the light percussion in a quarter-note rhythm as the main choir eventually fades out once the lighter synthesizer crescendos in order for pianos to rejoin the mix, of which play deep chords in accompaniment with a bass synthesizer as the piece concludes with the main choir chord returning and fading along with the pizzicato.

Trivia

  • "Blind Spots" only plays in Creative Mode.

Flake

Flake
Length 2:50
Bandcamp $1

"Flake" starts with a calm, bell-like synth and ambient sounds and later a glitchy rhythm enters.

Trivia

  • Flake only appears on the Christmas mashup for console version of Minecraft.

Moog City 2

Moog City 2
AKA menu2
Length 3:00
Bandcamp $1
"Moog City 2" is a recreation of Moog City from Minecraft Alpha. However this time I actually did use Moog synthesisers, along a lot of other synths that I acquired over the course of making this album.
—C418

"Moog City 2" is a remix of the original Moog City, but with more reverberation to it. Unlike the original version of the song, the main arpeggio stops playing dominant over the piano solo once the song crescendos. As well as this, the piano solo has been shifted to play in the middle of the song rather than just prior to the final arpeggio.

Trivia

  • "Moog" is an American electronic synthesizer company; this music may be a tribute to their classic synthesizer.
  • As mentioned on C418's website, unlike the original "Moog City", this remix uses Moog synthesizers.
  • "Moog City 2" only plays in the main menu of the game.

Connections

Concrete Halls

Concrete Halls
AKA Nether1
Length 4:14
Bandcamp $1

"Concrete Halls" begins with deep and solitary wind sounds, eventually leading into a deep piano note to create a short scale. Once the piano begins, the distant sound of rhythmic drum percussion made of drum sticks begins rising into volume, introducing a bass synthesizer in accompaniment of the piano chords along with a smooth, choir-like synthesizer following the emergence of ghast cries. As the percussion grows, a slow and steady drum beat is introduced and the piano receives higher melodic pitches playing a scale. The song grows to echo and dramatize as the percussion of the drums build in layers via various rhythmic and energetic rolls, an ascending arpeggio sequence is introduced, and the backing synthesizer fades into a choir, being halted by a booming bass drum that echoes in longevity. The percussive elements return to the percussive drum stick sequence, though the sound has been processed to distortion due to being amplified by the main song, and the piano plays a set of deep chords before the song concludes on the return of wind sounds and ghast cries with the latter being more prominent, including two extra bursts of obvious ghast cries at the very end of the piece.

Trivia

  • "Concrete Halls" only plays in the Nether.
  • The song's title could be a reference to a Nether fortress, the in-game structure which appears only in the Nether.

Biome Fest

Biome Fest
AKA creative1
Length 6:18
Bandcamp $1
"Biome Fest" is a song that I created when Minecraft Alpha was done, but I felt it had no place anywhere in the game, until the Creative Mode was sort of reintroduced to the game. It’s one of my favourite songs I’ve ever created. I do love minimalism and achieving tones with just very few notes, and I think this song does that extremely well.
—C418

"Biome Fest" starts off as a song with synthesized voices, each phrase picking up a new layer of ties to add to the timbre of the voices, transitioning to a percussive electronic song with a background bell melody, synthesiser strings, and piano chords. As the song ends, the bell melody dissipates via ping-pong delay, and the percussion continues to fade solo as the song returns to its base voice melody.

Trivia

  • "Biome Fest" track on Bandcamp has a link to a YouTube video called "Minecraft Biome Test".
  • This is the first of the tracks in the Minecraft discography to have been revealed to be produced prior to an official album release.
  • "Biome Fest" only plays in Creative Mode.

Connections

Mutation

Mutation
AKA menu1
Length 3:05
Bandcamp $1

"Mutation" is a variation on "Minecraft" from Minecraft - Volume Alpha with string ensemble embellishments. This is likely where the name "Mutation" originated from.

Trivia

  • "Mutation" only plays in the main menu of the game.

Haunt Muskie

Haunt Muskie
AKA creative3
Length 6:01
Bandcamp $1
"Haunt Muskie", if I remember correctly, an anagram for Hatsune Miku. Not entirely sure why anymore, but there you go. This song is very nostalgic for me, and I didn’t expect anyone to like it but just me. It turns out it is a little bit popular though. There was this fairly old video game I used to like. Some game where you solve puzzles of broken rollercoasters you have to fix. The music wasn’t particularly good, but the emotion it carried was something I always remembered. Haunt Muskie is what I remember that music to be.
—C418

"Haunt Muskie" begins with a sparkling melody made up of various shrill and deep pitches that increases in pace before being drowned out by an overwhelm of a reversed saxophone melody and a flourishing ambient chord. The chord brings forth a steady and smooth echoing melody of medium pace made up of pianos and smooth synthesizer chords, then accompanied by violin chords and a synthesizer bass, leading to additional synthesizer tones and chords that are abruptly halted by a reversed string and piano leading into a deep piano chord that introduces a bridge. The reversed saxophone melody replays from a distance with distorted percussive sounds, building into a rapid arpeggio accompanied by a reverse chord to introduce the main song.

The main song begins with delayed piano chords that play in a repeating rhythm backed with a synthesizer bass, proceeding to support various ambient synthesizers and the sound of a hectic rim shot before the arpeggio returns to introduce a steady and smooth drum beat using a rim shot as a snare, of which is accompanied by a slow background arpeggio and choir chords. A secondary piano melody using smoother tones is introduced and the second section of the song crescendos into a bridge to build into the song's third section. The crescendo ends the section and the smoother piano plays chords with additional delay as the arpeggio reintroduces the reversed saxophone melody so the arpeggio replays and transitions into the third section with a reversed drum roll.

In the third section of the song, the drums are more aggressive, featuring a snare, and are backed with light synthesizer string chords as the arpeggio returns to reintroduce the smoother piano, allowing the drums to gain extra percussion and the slow violin melody to return, eventually allowing the main piano melody to be accompanied by the secondary melody and the song to crescendo with a percussive triangle sound as the arpeggio plays once more. As the song concludes, the piano remains docile and steady as it gradually fades into the backing echo with the aftereffect of a rhythmic delay, playing the main piano melody once again before the song ends on an echoing dissonant chord that significantly distorts and rises in pitch to give the impression of villainous laughter.

Trivia

  • "Haunt Muskie" only plays in Creative Mode.
  • The title is an anagram of the Vocaloid character Hatsune Miku.

Warmth

Warmth
AKA Nether3
Length 3:59
Bandcamp $1
Warmth plays in the game’s hell. Or as it is called in Minecraft, “Nether”. This song tries to play with the idea that even hell isn’t all bad, and there’s good things to be found. But it’s still a very harsh environment.
—C418

"Warmth" begins with loud, metallic banging accompanied by deep wind sounds, leading into a somber choir-like synthesizer organ layered with the distorted sounds of water dripping, clicking, and agonizing screams. A piano melody accompanied by mystical voice-like synthesizer echoes begins playing as the backing synthesizer grows and the distorted sounds continue, the screaming becoming more prominent, the somber synthesizer eventually being backed up by a synthesizer bass before fading into synthesizer strings. As the sequence crescendos, the sound of distorted screaming echoes away and the piano melody combined with the voice-like synthesizer continues playing before being temporarily interrupted by less muted metallic banging accompanied by distorted wind, allowing a light, short melody played on a minor scale with the synthesizer to interject before the metallic banging returns with the additional echoing sounds of water flowing and eerie moaning.

Floating Trees

Floating Trees
AKA menu4
Length 4:04
Bandcamp $1

"Floating Trees" begins with an ethereal sound made of an echoing piano playing a descending melody, which continues throughout the song, that is accompanied by the piercing sounds of a chiptune-style synthesizer. A deep synthesizer bass backs up the ethereal droning and the sequence repeats with low, filtered synthesizer strings until it eventually builds to raise the pitch of the synthesizer strings to include the sounds of wind chimes, rustling leaves, and atmospheric wind sounds until the ethereal droning overloads following a minor melodic sequence and the droning disappears in the sound of a synthesized string. As the sound dissipates through reverb, distant bells playing a slower-paced version of the ending melody of "Subwoofer Lullaby" with variation conclude the piece.

Trivia

  • "Floating Trees" only plays in the main menu of the game.
  • This appears to be a reference to the well-known annoyance of leaving a tree only partially chopped down, thus leaving it “floating”.

Aria Math

Aria Math
AKA creative4
Length 5:10
Bandcamp $1
Aria Math is a song full of Pan Drums and old synthesisers rhythmically dancing to ping pong delays. It’s also one of the Creative Mode songs. I wrote it with the beauty of the more extreme creations in Minecraft. Gigantic statues, entire cities, paintings, people, all recreated in this game. It’s awe inspiring, and that’s what I wanted to kind of symbolise. Not sure if I succeeded?
—C418

"Aria Math" is dominant with a steady repeating pan drum melody accompanied by ping-pong delay. The pan drums pick up an extra layer of various ambient synthesizer tones playing a chipper melody with oriental-like materials, such as chimes and wind, before transitioning into a smooth set of chords that gradually increases in melodic layers. The ambient synthesizer tones build into a crescendo along with these chords before the song transitions into a bridge removing all additional instruments and returning to a lighter version of the introductory pan drum melody to transition into the second section of the song.

The second section features the pan drum in a different melody as it includes an extra melody on top of the main melody, and the ambient synthesizers return as both the main and secondary melody transition into a melody consisting of an oriental pluck instrument. During the instrumental transition, the atmosphere blanks out to give way to the oriental pluck instrument melody and give clarity before the pan drum melody returns and backs up the oriental pluck instrument. The pan drum melody returns playing a rising and descending bass melody, unlike the one-note bass in the first section, and the bass crescendos as chords are introduced. The chords begin as a flute before transitioning into synthesizer strings and building up along with the bass, leading to the song's conclusion as the oriental pluck instrument melody is singled out and lowered in volume before stopping completely in an echo.

Trivia

  • "Aria Math" only plays in Creative Mode.
  • "Aria" is a musical term for a song of air.

Connections

Kyoto

Kyoto
Length 4:09
Bandcamp $1

"Kyoto" is a downtempo song in two main parts. The first part features a piano playing the bass part, with a melody and countermelody in saxophone and flute, respectively. The second part features synthesized strings and celesta.

Trivia

  • Kyoto is a Japanese city and was formerly the imperial capital of Japan.
  • "Kyoto" only appears on the Christmas mashup for console version of Minecraft.

Ballad of the Cats

Ballad of the Cats
AKA Nether4
Length 4:35
Bandcamp $1

"Ballad of the Cats" begins with erratic atmospheric sounds with a deep droning, the shrill sounds of ghast cries and voices in a sporadic melody rising up to slight clarity as steady, deep, piano-like synthesizer bass chords begin to play, not shifting pitch throughout. The piano chords are accompanied by the triumphant, yet ominous sounds of synthesizer strings, which rise up in volume as the filter of the synthesizer chords open up, eventually leading into a techno flourish in the form of a distorted, industrial-like, growling synthesizer bass playing with ping-pong delay on mono, allowing the sound to echo in coincidence with the following piano chords as the first half of the song concludes. In-between the two halves, the atmospheric sounds replay in a quieter volume as a choir-like synthesizer plays, the synthesizer bass chords playing a distinct scale for the second half, and the synthesizer strings once again rise up in volume, though with a more piercing shrill pitch compared to the first half, causing the sound to echo for a long period as the volume of both elements lower. The piece concludes with a short set of high piano notes being played before the atmospheric sounds of ghast cries are replayed, through with more emphasis on the ghast cries themselves as the shrill sound of a ghast cry with a heavy echo serves to finalize it.

Trivia

  • "Ballad of the Cats" only plays in the Nether.
  • The song's title could be a reference to Ghasts, the in-game hostile mobs which only appear in the Nether.

Taswell

Taswell
AKA creative6
Length 8:35
Bandcamp $1
Taswell is a farewell to a friend I only met for a little bit, but they passed away faster than anyone could have imagined. It was shocking, but I didn’t want to remember them for their death, but the happiness they showed every day of their life.
—C418

"Taswell" begins with an ethereal drone made of an echoing piano playing in a repeating set of chords that, eventually gaining a bass as the final of the four notes comprising the drone adds dissonance, is layered with smooth chime-like beeping sounds, reversed shrill chimes, and sporadic but coordinated chirping, as well as an analogue synthesizer playing a bouncing, descending melody, the section concluding with a ticking sound that occasionally flickers with an echo before transitioning through ripples of vinyl static and the chirping sounds as the ethereal music plays a single note on ostinato.

The main song then begins, featuring a serene, steady synthesizer drum sequence with the ticking sound on top, a piano layered with an echoing synthesizer, and a smooth, fuzzy synthesizer playing a coy and energetic background melody. The song gradually applies layers to itself and evolves to intensify the ticking into metallic hi-hats, apply deeper frequency to the bass drum, and uses the flute layered with a voice-like synthesizer with an additional layer of shrill swooshing sounds, followed by the further addition of a piano layered on top of the flute accompanied by a second layer of synthesizer on top of the synthesizer playing in coincidence with the main piano as a slow arpeggio rises into the mix, eventually concluding with atmospheric choir synthesizers layered with a subtle electronic distortion as the song transitions into the next section with the return of the chirping sounds, though the chirping sounds echo during this transition period.

In the third section of the song, the middle section is filtered out and is gradually revealed in layers as it is accompanied only by the secondary piano aside from the last of the four melodies where the voice-like synthesizer accompanies it, as well as a dance-like arpeggio. The bass also gains extra distortion to add volume to the entire song's atmosphere, eventually including chords from an organ layered with a reversed piano, various swooshing synthesizer sounds, and the main arpeggio becoming sparkly during certain intervals as it is also played on an organ before the song reaches its final evolution as the organ surrounds the atmosphere in an orchestral manner and the section ends as the arpeggio is lifted off its filter. In the song's conclusion, the song's various additional layers are reduced and the sound is accompanied by various swooshing synthesizers, as well as a smooth filtered echoing bell-like synthesizer to give atmosphere to the conclusion, and voice-like static periods as the arpeggio slowly fades out via echoing and the song ends on a muffled organ version of the arpeggio.

Trivia

  • The track title refers to Ryan "Taswell" Davis, founder of the video game website Giant Bomb. Davis passed away unexpectedly at age 34 due to natural causes.[1]
  • The ambient introduction of the track is sampled from impostor syndrome. Specifically, it samples the echo from the diminished chord played 40 seconds into the track. Additionally, it samples the high piano notes and then combines them with the drone.
  • "Taswell" only plays in Creative Mode.

Beginning 2

Beginning 2
AKA menu3
Length 2:56
Bandcamp $1
Beginning 2 is just like Beginning on Alpha, perhaps the end to the album, or just the beginning. This album is now in the progress of changing tone rapidly, but not before going to The End.
—C418

"Beginning 2" begins with deep, smooth Rhodes piano notes with excessive reverb playing a solemn melody, accompanied by an acoustic piano melody playing in harmony. String embellishments and choirs begin to flourish and crescendo, introducing a saw synthesizer melody and synthesizer bass as the choirs deepen. The section ends and transitions into a bridge, using a calm, filtered, fluttering ambient synthesizer playing bouncing chords before transitioning into the melody that the original "Beginning" is introduced with, amplified by the reverb and supported by the synthesizer strings and choir sounds. The song ends on a prolonged chord as an excessively reverberated version of the piano melody plays atop the ending in a blank fashion, the song eventually fading out.

Trivia

  • "Beginning 2" only plays in the main menu of the game.

Connections

Dreiton

Dreiton
AKA creative5
Length 8:17
Bandcamp $1
"Dreiton" is a remembrance of the times when I wrote albums like Zweitonegoismus. When I was still scared to embrace minimalism and simplicity in music. When I was still keen on making my music as crazy and varied as possible. Turns out there was no reason to have such a fear. And with Dreiton, they are essentially only two sections on a song that clocks in at over 8 minutes. I hope I accomplished to have repetition that nonetheless isn’t boring in any way. Like all the other “Creative Mode” songs, this one is also about the awe of the creativity to be found in Minecraft. At minute 7, the song abruptly builds up to nothing and fades away. Sometimes creativity doesn’t need to have a reason. Sometimes you just build.
—C418

"Dreiton" is an ambient song divided into two halves that makes use of the pan drum and the square wave, the square waves gradually building up to transition into dramatic synthesiser strings. The first half begins with eight unique square wave chords that dominate the entire song that is played every sixteen beats. As the first half crescendos, an aimless pan drum melody fades in; during the very last phrase of the first half, the song picks up into a rhythmic hi-hat sequence. The entire first half of the track is supported by the sound of echoing vinyl static.

During the second half, the pan drum that was introduced in the first half is used for the base melody, which then raises up an octave as the base melody converts from using the pan drum to the piano. After the melody rises up an octave, a drum kit sequence is introduced as the song reaches its final two phases. As the second half concludes, the song becomes a guitar melody, continuing the use of pan drums in the background, and the song finally ends with a synthesiser chord.

Trivia

  • "Dreiton" is German for "three-tone".[2]
    • The song title is a reference an earlier song by C418 zweiton, which name translates to "two-tone".[3]
  • "Dreiton" only plays in Creative Mode.

Connections

  • Later remixed on 148 as Vierton, the name of which is the German for "four tone".[4]

The End

The End
AKA end
Length 15:04
Bandcamp $1
"The End" is a 15-minute piece for the namesake in Minecraft, a place called “The End”, a dark and sinister place full of creepy things called Endermen. Oh, and there’s a dragon. Since The End is also the final stage the player has to go to to “beat” the game, this piece contains a lot of references to past songs. If you listen closely, you can essentially hear most of Volume Alpha embedded within. After building up the drone, the song breaks, as if some sort of audio device couldn’t handle it anymore. Lastly you hear someone fixing it, and it starts from the beginning. At least in the game.
—C418

"The End" begins with a gradual fade in of "Minecraft" from Minecraft - Volume Alpha, eventually degrading over time and succumbing to excessive reverb as the audio breaks. As the long period of reverb fades, a haunting low textured bass tone comprised of droning synthesizers begins playing and fading in, backed up by the sound of subtle shifting static and distorted robotic screaming. The static picks up and is accompanied also by the sound of brief high period synthesizer notes, as well as distorted wind, introducing a period of a slow chiptune synthesizer melody from... ...as the droning gradually builds up. The glockenspiel-synthesizer combination of the second half of "Haggstrom" is then played, before the distant sound of an echoed, distorted version of the main portion of "Dry Hands" begins playing in coincidence with the introduction of a mysterious screaming choir synthesizer to support the bass synthesizer. As the choir synthesizer takes the center stage, the main portion of "Wet Hands" plays along with "Equinoxe" to transition to the brief sound of the synthesizer period of "Oxygène". As the main bass synthesizer builds up into a pulsating ostinato, the second half of "Danny" begins playing along with the second half of "Haggstrom" before the pulsating gains a complete rhythm. In the climax as the pulsating continues, a slower, lower-frequency version of "Sweden" plays dominant over the remaining sounds before the choir synthesizer returns in accompaniment with extra distortion as a period of the... ...section of "Subwoofer Lullaby" fades in, concluding the section with a long period of reverb.

In the second section, the bass synthesizer returns along with the static, introducing sporadic deep, water-like bell noises as the bass begins to pulsate aggressively as a second layer of water-like bells play in reverse. A brief period of auxiliary buzzing can be heard before an extremely slow version of "Minecraft" is heard replaying as echoing atmospheric sounds accompany it. The sound of ambient wind repeats in a gradual wave-like fashion as "Minecraft" stops playing in another period of buzzing. The bass synthesizer continues to fade in as the sound of sweeping static can be heard and the bell noises fade out, and once the bass synthesizer fades in, albeit filtered, the puslating ostinato returns along with the bell-like noises and the ambient wind, the song eventually breaking as vinyl static is heard for a brief period. As if the song had broken from atmospheric pressure, the song "Minecraft" then replays a stuttered three notes on a record loop before someone stops the record entirely by use of a turntable, nothing but vinyl static following as the atmosphere is overwhelmed as the record rewinds for the piece to replay.

Trivia

  • "The End" is one of C418's longest songs.
    • "The End" is the longest song in the Minecraft discography.
  • A shortened version of "The End" is used as the base song for the demonstrative teaser trailer of Minecraft - Volume Beta released October 12, 2013.
  • "The End" only plays in The End dimension, after killing the Ender Dragon.
    • A minimal texture and duration version of the piece simply titled "Boss" is played whenever the player is in range of the Ender Dragon.
  • "The End" features other songs from Minecraft - Volume Alpha, such as Minecraft, Wet Hands, etc.
  • The composition for the song is dominated primarily by the piano stems for both "Sweden" and "Minecraft". The former plays only as the song reaches its loudness peak at the duration of 8 minutes, and the latter plays centrally at the very start and the very end of the song, both to introduce the song and to climax the song.

Chirp

Chirp
Length 3:07
Bandcamp $1
"Chirp", is where we switch to the records you can find in Minecraft as collectables.
—C418
"Chirp" is not a song from LittleBigPlanet, but both the song in LittleBigPlanet and my song have one similarity. We used an instrument called the Mellotron. The Mellotron is a very fascinating instrument when it was new. It’s the very first sampling-based piano you could say. You press a key, and a tape behind the instrument plays a sound. Every single note has its own band. And with that you were practically able to play anything that has been recorded. They advertised the Mellotron as an orchestra you can play at home.

When I created records for Minecraft I wanted them to have one or two sounds that all of them share. In this case it was both the Mellotron and the Roland TR 808.

I should have cleared that up when making the song.
—C418

"Chirp" is a retro tune with a sample from a 1970 MATTEL Program Disc: Bossa Nova Style playing in the background, along with a vaporwave-like version of Mall.

Wait

Wait
Length 3:54
Bandcamp $1

"Wait" is an upbeat remix of Minecraft.

Trivia

  • This track was originally titled "Where are we now" and for a long time was in the record folder but was not added as a music disc due to issues with the spaces in its name. This was finally rectified by renaming it and it was added as a music disc
    • However, the disc was titled where are we now on older versions of Minecraft's console ports. It was renamed around 2018.

Mellohi

Mellohi
Length 1:38
Bandcamp $1

"Mellohi" is a slow, slightly melancholic waltz with a sample from a mellotron playing in the background.

Stal

Stal
Length 2:32
Bandcamp $1

"Stal" is a moderate jazz-like piece with a recorder.

Trivia

  • In Swedish, "stal" means "stole", but can also be "stål" with the ring diacritic, which means "steel".

Strad

Strad
Length 3:08
Bandcamp $1

"Strad" is a tropical-sounding piece with the main melody being played on a handpan and steel drum, accompanied by a glitchy electronic beat and ending on some melancholy melodica chords.

Eleven

Eleven
Length 1:11
Bandcamp $1

"Eleven" is a slow, calm piano piece. In the beginning, the record static from the start of the music disc 11 can be heard but is abruptly switched to the new tune when a record scratching sound interrupts it.

Trivia

  • This track references the music disc 11 in its name and length but features a new track instead of the disturbing sound of a person running away from some unknown creature.

Ward

Ward
Length 4:10
Bandcamp $1

"Ward" starts off with an excerpt from Chopin's Funeral March played on synth organ but goes into an electronic, upbeat, exploration and adventure tune with a dark undertone.

Trivia

  • The old-sounding intro to this song is shortened in Minecraft - Volume Beta, compared to the in-game music disc version.

Mall

Mall
Length 3:18
Bandcamp $1

"Mall" is a calm, underwater-like piece of serene music.

Blocks

Blocks
Length 5:43
Bandcamp $1

"Blocks" is an upbeat, catchy tune with a shuffling rhythm.

Trivia

  • Refers to the main theme of Minecraft.

Far

Far
Length 3:12
Bandcamp $1

"Far" is a calm, relaxing, nature-like melody.

Intro

Intro
Length 4:36
Bandcamp $1
See you next time
—C418, Bandcamp
Intro, an improv piece to say goodbye. Or hello?
—C418

"Intro" consists of a person humming and playing notes on a piano as if compiling a song from his head. Strings, along with echoing synthesized sounds and other recordings of what may be the same voice, fade in afterwards, until the song ends.

Trivia

  • The quote on Bandcamp could be a reference to the upcoming Third Minecraft Album.
  • The person humming and playing the notes on the piano is C418 himself.

Album trivia

  • Minecraft - Volume Beta is the longest duration C418 album as of 2021, being 2 hours, 20 minutes, and 49 seconds.
    • The Untitled Minecraft Album of an unknown future release date will exceed past this duration as it will be longer than both Minecraft - Volume Alpha and Minecraft - Volume Beta combined, which is 3 hours, 19 minutes, and 40 seconds.
  • There are two extra tracks which weren't added to the album.
    • The first one is a music disc 11.
    • The second one is in-game music when fighting the ender dragon, boss.
  • The discs appear to be based on older 78 rpm records. These usually held a single 2-3 minute song on one or both sides, and were made out of a noisy material called shellac (which was notorious for its fragility and hissing sound when no music was playing, both of which can be seen in "11"), and were larger than later, 45 rpm vinyl records which replaced them.

References