Artists are Musicians and other producers that contributed to the style and presentation of the Hotline Miami series. Their tracks are an iconic and integral element to the tone and style of Hotline Miami and Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number. Artists make in-game cameos both in the outro to Decadence and the intro to Down Under, among other places.
Full Series Artists[]
M|O|O|N[]
The MOON EP provides the majority of level music in Hotline Miami
M|O|O|N was a burgeoning Boston-based teenage electronic artist when he provided the majority of Hotline Miami's main level tracks. The four tracks ("Paris," "Crystals," "Hydrogen," and "Release") are collected on his 2011 MOON EP.
In Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number, he provided "Delay" over the Ambush scene used to introduce the Hawaiian Conflict, as well as the immensely popular scoring and credits track "Dust," both from his 2012 Particles EP. He also provided his 2013 single Quixotic to be played over Jake's ill-fated raid of a meth lab in Withdrawal.
http://music.musicofthemoon.com/
Jasper Byrne / Space Recordings[]
The Hotline Miami 2 EP from Jasper Byrne / Space Recordings
A UK-based electronic musician and indie developer of the 2012 game Lone Survivor. In the first game he provided the main level track "Hotline" and the scoring screen track "Miami." Both tracks are collected on his Hotline Miami EP, along with "Voyager," which would appear slightly adjusted in two of Hotline Miami 2's Fan levels, essentially setting up the 1991 Setting and Gang enemies and locations.
Byrne's "Decade Dance" was used to sell the Pig Butcher's brutal assault on a police station in Final Cut, and was featured in many early showings and demos of the game. Its title is possibly also a reference to the decade shift between Hotline Miami and Hotline Miami 2, as well as the media-emphasizing Hotline Miami chapter Decadence which serves as an origin for the Pig Butcher.
http://spacerecordings.bandcamp.com/
Perturbator[]
James Kent is a prolific and well known French synthwave and electronic artist, formerly a black metal guitarist. He provides "Miami Disco" and "Electric Dreams," each of which are only used once in Hotline Miami's main campaign ("Miami Disco" would later be set over Highball); "Miami Disco" appears in Push It and "Electric Dreams" plays over the first set of credits, ending Jacket's story. An unused track, "Vengeance" was planned to go over the eponymous chapter before it was ultimately replaced with Scattle's "Inner Animal."
Hotline Miami 2 pillages his discography, using "Tech Noir" from I Am the Night to introduce the character of Manny Pardo. "Sexualizer" from the Sexualizer EP is Dennis Wedin's stated favorite song in Hotline Miami 2 and goes over the plot-pivotal scene and death of a player character in Execution. Finally, "Future Club" from his 2014 album Dangerous Days is set over the game's climactic final assault on an affluent Colombian drug fortress. Welcome Back, also from Dangerous Days, is sampled for Hotline Miami 3.
http://perturbator.bandcamp.com/
El Huervo[]
Do Not Lay Waste to Homes
Niklas Åkerblad is a Swedish musician and artist and a personal friend of Dennis Wedin and Jonatan Soderstrom. He serves as the basis for Beard. His Do Not Lay Waste to Homes provides the calming metropolitan outro track "Daisuke" to the vast majority of Hotline Miami's level outros. His "Crush" plays over the corpse-filled areas the player navigates through on their way back to their vehicles. He finally provides the intense "Turf," which is split into "Turf Intro" and "Turf Main" to bookend the final Part of Jacket's story in the first game.
Rust/Ghost
El Huervo returned to score the military camp in Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number. His "Rust" track being a jungle war themed borderline remix of "Daisuke." He also provides "Ghost," the Akira Yamaoka-inspried track in the camp before Beard's final assault on the power plant. In addition he drew the essential self portrait that serves as the game's cover art.
El Huervo is also one of the main soundtrack contributors to the Swedish indie programmer game, else Heart.Break(). One of the tracks from his World's End album, "Hunger," is a collaboration with Nounverber.
Scattle[]
Scattle's Visitors EP, used in Hotline Miami 2.
Coming in as Hotline Miami grew from a small flash game into a bigger project, Scattle is the California-based synthwave artist that scores the near totality of the final two Parts of the first game. "Flatline" drastically shifts and slows the game's tone and pace for the somber Trauma level. The pounding "Knock Knock" plays over Jacket's homicidal assault on a police station as well as Biker's assault on Phone Hom. "Inner Animal" is the climactic theme to both Jacket's final mission, Vengeance, and Biker's uncovering of The Janitors in Resolution. After Jacket's story, Scattle introduces Biker as a player character with the relaxed and assured apartment theme "It's Safe Now" and the fast-paced main level song "To the Top."
Scattle
Scattle returns in Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number where he provides "Remorse" for the retiring Henchman's final raid on a low level chop shop in No Mercy, the game relying immensely on the song to characterize and establish player with the exhausted and aging Henchman. Scattle also scores Manny Pardo's desperate pursuit of fame in Dead Ahead with is "Bloodline."
Scattle's often depicted as having an electrical outlet for a face, though in Down Under he's shown hitting on girls by spinning a butterfly knife. His LVL. 2 remix album features both El Huervo and Magic Sword, in addition to Dan Terminus and Make Up and Vanity Set.
Hotline Miami Artists[]
Sun Araw[]
A neopsychedelic performer who provided "Horse Steppin'" from his 2008 Beach Head album and "Deep Cover" from his 2010 album On Patrol. They play over the main menu and Jacket's apartment respectively.
Though Hotline Miami has no marijuana peripherals or explicit drug usage, his music casts the majority of Jacket's lifestyle and the game's general tone as sun-baked, hazy and disconnected, effectively implying it through atmosphere. The sequel plays up explicit drug usage, but he does not return for it.
CoConuts[]
CoConuts is an obscure psychedelic and noise rock group with a self-titled CoConuts EP from 2010. Their "Silver Lights" is iconically paired with the Animal Room appearances of Richard, Don Juan, and Rasmus. They are former members of the punk band Bird Blobs.
CoConuts has no bandcamp, but their EP can be purchased here.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bird_Blobs
http://myspace.com/coconutsnoise
Eliott Berlin[]
Elliott Berlin is the bass player in Dennis Wedin's band Fucking Werewolf. He provides the electronic disco single track "Musikk per automatikk." Musikk is a frantic and high pitched Euro tune which plays over Biker getting fed up with doing jobs in Fun & Games.
Eirik Suhrke[]
Eirik Suhrke
Eirik Suhrke is a Norwegian synth and chiptune artist who composed "A New Morning," which plays over Biker leaving Miami at the very end of the game. He does indie game music for a variety of titles, including Spelunky. "A New Morning" is collected on his - (Hyphen) EP.
https://phlogiston.bandcamp.com/album/-
Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number Artists[]
The Expanses EP, the second track of which plays over Hotline Miami 2's menus.
The Green Kingdom[]
Michael Cottone is a Michigan-based electronic ambient artist and graphic designer. He provides the slow Untitled menu theme from his 2014 Expanses EP, being paired with a slow motion background of the Miami skyline being obliterated. The Green Kingdom describes the EP as being "meant to evoke vast and expansive environments, either real or imagined," and that it can "provide a sense of calm and wonder at our relative insignificance."
http://thegreenkingdom.bandcamp.com
The artwork for "Detection."
Sean Evans / Prey Growl[]
A UK based electronic ambient artist, Sean Evans provided the opening credits theme "Detection" to Midnight Animal, and is actually credited in-game as providing music for the film. Prey Growl has taken down much of his music from his bandcamp, but his 2014 "Detection" track remains along with "Stalker."
Light Club / Coco Bryce + Motëm[]
Coco Bryce
Light Club is a collaboration between Dutch electronic artist Coco Bryce and Canadian DJ and beat musician Motëm. Their 2012 Feeelings EP provides the atmospheric and heavily used "Blizzard" and "She Meditates" to the Fans' intros and outros respectively. Fahkeet from the same EP is used over the Son's overdose on Pills in Apocalypse. A Remix of "Apropros" called "Jungle3" was at one point meant to be used over some intros and outros in Hawaii.
Motëm
Coco Bryce is a fan of Trainspotting star Ewen Bremner and often uses his likeness. The release of his "Club Tropicana" is paired with an ad declaring: "the Dutch producer indulges in the sort of musical alchemy that on paper sounds like a recipe for disaster, and yet as the album unfolds the concoction Bryce brews proves potent and addictive. Tapping into his own self-confessed omnivorous musical interests, Club Tropicana echoes Coco Bryce's musical career from the Hardcore days of the mid-90s, tekno and electro through to the new school of electronic hip hop, the funk of Skweee and the melodic synth styles of dubstep and trap."
https://myor.bandcamp.com/album/feeelings
Endless' Glitch EP
Endless[]
Endless is a French Canadian ambient electronic artist who contributes much of the remorseful and exhausted intro and outro music to Manny Pardo and Richter's levels in his "Keep Calm" and "Disturbance" tracks from Glitch. In addition to a bandcamp, Endless has a Youtube Channel where he uploads videos of his songs (two for Hotline Miami 2 and one inspired by Dark Souls).
Noir Deco[]
Noir Deco is a fairly well known synthwave artist who collaborated with Perturbator on his "Tech Noir" track from I Am the Night. Noir Deco is most famous for his cyberpunk and Blade Runner inspired tracks such as "Sentient Love." He also has some songs inspired by the 80's Miami aesthetics in "A Cruise with Crockett."
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/noirdeco
Old Future Fox Gang / Coco Bryce (Again)[]
OFFG's one and only album.
Old Future Fox Gang is a tongue in cheek alias of Coco Bryce, under which he released the 2011 pseudo hip hop album Love Them All. The album is used in Hotline Miami 2, with "Guided Meditation" going over Manny Pardo's exhausted crime scene outros and "Java" casting a bizarre jungle mood over the tiki bar in Ambush. "Don't Cry For Me" was at one point intended to play over Beard's intros, but was ultimately cut from the soundtrack.
Their album has been removed by MYOR music, making it unavailable for purchase.
Riddarna[]
Riddarna is a Swedish pop rock group whose "Simma Hem" (Swimming Home) is sampled and slowed to make "Miami Jam," Jake's apartment theme. The Riddarna logo can be found on several T Shirt sprites throughout the game, and Riddarna themselves are shown counting money and selling merchandise out front of the party in Down Under.
http://soundcloud.com/riddarna/sets
Magna
Magna[]
Magna is a Philadelphia based rave music artist who created "Divide," an energetic dubstep remix with regular strikes and samples to punctuate Jake's lethal throws on Hard News. "Divide" is one of the most popular songs on the OST, and Magna has several remixes of it on his soundcloud.
The Current Events album, featuring US and USSR military satellites.
Mitch Murder[]
Cyberpunk aesthetic Mitch Murder is inspired by.
Johan Bengtsson is a Swedish chillwave electro artist based in Stockholm. His 2010 album Burning Chrome is a reference to William Gibson's sprawl short story and cyberpunk anthology of the same name, and provides the track "Hollywood Heights," playing over both Martin Brown's dream interview and the intro Fan hallucinatory delivery sequence in Death Wish. "Frantic Aerobics" from his 2011 album Current Events goes over both The Henchman's dream of driving off in a red semi convertible, as well as the 50 Blessings headquarters Jake visits in Withdrawal.
His music plays up the bliss of the 1980's while recognizing the horrific political fears of the times, and Hotline Miami 2 appropriately uses it for moments of happiness before the carpet's pulled out from underneath as underlying violent, political or nationalist sentiments rear their heads. Current Events is very explicitly about consumerism, technology, and nuclear threats. In 2015 Mitch Murder also contributed to the soundtrack of the 80's-themed short comedy Kung Fury.
http://rossocorsarecords.bandcamp.com/album/burning-chrome
http://rossocorsarecords.bandcamp.com/album/current-events
Life Companions[]
Life Companions is a psychedelic ambient artist from Gothenburg, Sweden who contributes the track "Richard" from their 2015 Soft Curses. "Richard" famously accompanies Richard's appearances as well as other disturbing events. Their "We're Sorry" track puts an unnerving edge on the sewer section of Into the Pit. The mixer for Life Companions is Benjamin Söderström, Cactus' twin brother.
http://lifecompanions.bandcamp.com
Sjellos[]
The Transmission Lost album from Sjellos
A German electronic, black metal, and ambient group, Sjellos contributes "Chamber of Reflections" from their 2013 album Transmission Lost to the Butcher apartment seen in Final Cut's intro. The track sets the tone of the Butcher as markedly different than the rest of the characters in game, strongly playing up the idea that he's always imposing and terrifying as a matter of course.
http://cryochamber.bandcamp.com/album/transmission-lost
Chromacle[]
Chromacle is an ambient chillwave artist from Philadelphia whose "Interlude" from their 2012 Interlude EP goes over many level intros. The song has a melodic section two minutes in that most players will only hear as Writer at the courthouse in First Trial. The opening is reused much more frequently as a calm before the storm in Blood Money, Caught and Apocalypse. The band is highly experimental and often uses chip-tunes and bass in a variety of ways. Chromacle describes their Interlude EP as "meant to act as a palette cleanser between the barrage that has previously been witnessed and the onslaught that is still yet to come."
Vestron Vulture[]
Dante Diaz is a synthpop artist based in Monterrey, Mexico. From his 2012 WAXWORK EP he provides the popular "New Wave Hookers" as an uncharacteristically slow main level theme for Evan Wright's panicked nonlethal "raid" on a Russian Mafia bath house in First Trial. Italo-disco and pulp media inspire much of his work. More recently he's undergone a drastic tonal shift to goth synth and witch house.
http://vestronvulture.bandcamp.com
Modulogeek[]
Joon Guillen's a synth and ambient artist from Manila, Philippines. His melancholy ambient track "Around" adds genuine moments of sentimentality to Hotline Miami 2. The track adds a tone of genuine exhaustion and loss in the hopeless and innocent downtime between Richter's levels where he both cares for and lies to his chronically ill mother, as well as to Beard giving the picture to a critically wounded Jacket in Hawaii while they wait for rescue in the disastrous aftermath of a power plant assault.
http://soundcloud.com/modulogeek/
Magic Sword[]
The vinyl set and artwork for Magic Sword Vol. 1
Magic Sword is a trio of LED-helmeted synth artists very attached to the video game and fantasy aesthetic. They provided the glowing endorsement of vigilantism "In the Face of Evil" to the Fans' assault on a dilapidated junkie hang out to "rescue" a friend's sister and bring her home. "The Way Home" is similarly about heroism but with a connotation of sacrifice that goes extremely well with the suicidal final assault by Beard's Unit it plays over. Both tracks are collected in their Magic Sword Volume 1. The group has several remixes with Scattle on his LVL. 2 EP.
http://www.magicswordmusic.com
http://soundcloud.com/magic-sword
http://www.youtube.com/user/magicswordmusic
Dag Unenge[]
Dag Unenge
Known to Dennaton for scoring the 1984 Swedish action movie The Ninja Mission , Dag Unenge provides a then-untitled track now referred to as "The Winding Theme #1" to the players introduction to Russian player characters in No Mercy. The theme has the capacity to feel both relaxed, affluent and assured as well as exhausted and meandering, managing to capture both The Son and The Henchman's personalities and tones.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0881066/?ref_=tt_trv_snd
http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCse3jotacdXzsScEyEzLBgg
Carpenter Brut[]
Carpenter Brut's Trilogy
French electro and horror synth artist Carpenter Brut is a very popular synthwave musician who provides some of the heaviest sounds and most intense moments to the franchise. The "Dial Tone" trailer for Hotline Miami 2 was framed around the drop in his "Escape from Midwich Valley." "Roller Mobster" is a top contender for most popular track for its playing over the Fans' return to Russian killing in Death Wish, providing sheer energy and playing up in the inherent appeal of firefights in gorgeously expensive office complexes. His "Le Perv" is similarly straining against the confines of composition to push a melody to the utmost adrenaline high possible and gives an unforgettable send off to Richter's act in Release. All his contributions are collected on his Trilogy album.
http://carpenterbrut.bandcamp.com
iamthekidyouknowwhatimean[]
S/T EP
Swedish electronic artist Elin Hedlund Rasmusson composed "Run," a comparatively slow-paced track that characterizes the gang-cluttered urban decadence on full display in Evan's Subway level, calming incoherent vocals slowly emerging from apparently disjointed noise. The original version of the song is run backwards and forwards like a tape. It and three other tracks are collected on their lone S/T EP.
http://iamthekidyouknowwhatimean.bandcamp.com
Benny Smiles[]
Benny Smiles
Ross Fortune is an Irish electronic musician who submitted both the "Hotline Miami Theme" and an unused, faster-paced track called "Bad Ending." The "Hotline Miami Theme" goes over the stylistic "origin" of the series in Stronghold, where for the "first" time Russians are fought in gorgeous and trashed living locations. The theme is strangely light hearted and innocent for a military assault, but matches well with the sun baked jungle resort visuals. Smiles' music is often described as playful and tonally varied.
http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOtInmpkISGYjPb3WeQG-FQ
http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6GQ3GnonBpULTLcgDR8b_Q/
http://soundcloud.com/bennysmiles
Dubmood
Dubmood[]
A Swedish synth and chiptune artist, Dubmood provides a fast paced remix of the Escape From the Police Station track from the Terminator OST, titled "Richard." The song introduces Richter during his frantic assault on a small Russian Mafia owned bar in First Blood. Dubmood is almost entirely oriented around extremely fast and energetic electronic beats.
Mega Drive[]
198XAD
Mega Drive is a very well known synthwave artist out of Dallas, Texas whose 2014 album 198XAD provides Perturbator and Carpenter Brut's biggest competition in intensity. His three extremely action-oriented tracks are all given large, challenging late game set pieces. "NARC" lends a dark, nightmarish tone to Richter's incursion into a derelict building used to store smuggled military grade weaponry in Demolition. The Son's bank heist in Blood Money is memorably set to a sudden burst of "Acid Spit" interrupting Chromacle's "Interlude." Finally, the rapid "Slum Lord" sets the mood in Manny Pardo's panicked and claustrophobic nightmare sequence, Caught.
CiniMod[]
A Canadian electronic artist, CiniMod provides the playful but strangely remorseful beat "The Rumble" to Richter's afternoon raid on a small affluent villa in House Call. CiniMod has several remixes of "The Rumble" on their DUELux EP.
Auto ΔT's Inception EP
Auto Delta Time[]
Auto ΔT is a electronic techno artist based in Houston, Texas. They have two small EPs from 2010 and 2011: the Ecco-inspired Way of the Dolphin and Inception. The latter provides The Son's headquarters theme and Colombian-Mafia War prep song "Ms. Minnie."
http://autodeltatime.bandcamp.com
El Tigr3[]
El Tigr3 is a small Texan electric artist who has produced a handful of tracks. His "She Swallowed Burning Coals" is the colorful, loud and chaotic song featured in the Son's assault on a Colombian strip club in Seizure. His symbol is a tiger spewing streams of colors from its mouth. Several of his tracks are collected on an forthcoming album, ¡ROAR!.
http://www.youtube.com/user/ElTigre0161/videos
http://eltigre.bandcamp.com/music
http://soundcloud.com/el-tigr3
LipPi Sound[]
Stefan Lindvall and Simon Ohlsson are new electronic artists from Göteborg, Sweden, who provided their lone track "The Abyss" (coupled with an ambient "Abyss Intro") to the dark, dilapidated former 50 Blessings headquarters that Evan must escape from in his bonus scene, The Abyss.
http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgohwkCt9c8H89IgI4QKXzg
http://lippisounds.bandcamp.com/releases
Nounverber
Nounverber[]
David Scott is a music producer from New Orleans who makes electronic and ambient music under the moniker of Nounverber. His unsettling and exhausted "Black Tar" plays over surreal gatherings of the Hotline Miami series cast of characters in the Broken Bar and the Table Sequence. He collaborated with El Huervo on the track "Hunger" for El Huervo's World's End album.
http://nounverber.bandcamp.com/music
http://www.youtube.com/user/soundverber
Castanets[]
Cathedral
Castanets is an American west coast experimental music project headed by Ray Raposa. Their chilling, calming and ultimately chaotic "You Are the Blood" from their 2004 album Cathedral rounds out the Hotline franchise once and for all in Hotline Miami 2's strangely beautiful final credits sequence.
http://asthmatickitty.com/artists/castanets/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castanets_(band)
Planned Artists[]
Chromatics[]
Chromatics is an American band with the song "Lady" either being used as a placeholder for Hotline Miami's beta or the original song for every mission. They are known for having "chaotic songs"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromatics_(band)
Tape[]
Tape was planned to be an artist for Hotline Miami 2. The song "Beams" was meant and still is used in the beta for the title screen. They were scrapped due to it sounding way too similar to Hotline Miami's theme. It's hard to find much on Tape as they're named after a lot of things.
Silvia Plath[]
Trizzle[]
Trizzle was an artist meant to be in Hotline Miami 2. The song "WouJuno" was meant to play in the Pig Butcher's apartment. It was ultimately scrapped last minute for Chamber of Reflections due to Dennaton being unable to get ahold of the artist.