Music for a Space Opera

It depends onw what you're going for. If you want the quiet emptiness of space, put on some ambience or space ambience. If you're trying to make it feel like an opera or epic, put on some rousing orchestras. If you want to feel like a trucker hauling ass through space or some sort of gunslinger, put on some blues and a bit of rock country.

tl;dr - Your "space music" relies on the tone you're going for.

"Space" is an incredibly varied setting, but the fun thing about it is how you can cram basically anything into it.

Judging from your music choices, you're looking for something that sounds alien, but in a human way, if you get me. Use of actual instruments (or at least, the sort of sounds they make; not going to bash instrument synthesizers) instead of the sort of electronic synth you'd find in, say, a high tech space science fiction.

I'm a basic fucking bitch when it comes to music, but I've always liked the mix of music Cowboy Bebop has; the differing music for each setting helps make every place that much different.

For example, you break out the tribal mystical stuff for the wandering of the cosmos and when you drop into the cantina that orbits around the moon at just the right speed to constantly be viewing an eclipse, you find some smooth jazz.

Really it depends on how unified the culture of said space is. I find the most fun ones to be ones where there's all sorts of shit smashed into every nook and cranny, makes it feel more real. Even in boring nothing towns there's always a chinese restaurant, if that metaphor makes sense.

Cowboy bebop has a good soundtrack for that (well some of the songs)
The 2001 space odessey soundtrack could be cool, all that classical and the spooookyyyyyy vocal tracks.
For space/sci-fi settings I like to play IDM and brain dance music when in large metropolises, mostly ambient music when in space and I love using Sunn O))) for " forbidden zones"

>>49253834
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w34fSnJNP-4

Obligatory

>>49253834

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02nAH_oAjeg

>>49255509

there is 90% chance that your players will play lowlifes and scoundrels in space opera.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FH8lvwXx_Y8

>>49253834
Soundtrack from Hegemonia, legions of iron fits your need perfectly.

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https://soundcloud.com/ccpgames/sets/eve-online-in-game-tracks

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>>49253834
It's Space OPERA.
Use emotive and expressive out of place music.

What to play specifically depends entirely on the undertones of your setting, of the location or NPCs and what mood they should convey, and the tension the characters are in. It is non trivial and there are many good answers, no one right way.

One strategy could be to use songs as callbacks, use pop and recognizable soundtracks to make references. It's a little meta and the players have to go for it, if they don't: ABORT and change playlists. The thing is, to get this right you have to play the right song at exactly the right moment in the story, and most songs are only about 3-4 minutes long - not enough time to play a scene. And it will be very distracting to have to take care of the music while the players want 3 things and you have a scene to establish.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mp0ZISBYidI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3Yc3HhSl1Q


Another strategy is to avoid any recognition entirely and look for Soundcloud or Reverbnation artists that strike your fancy, use obscure soundtracks (not obscure movie soundtracks).
https://www.reverbnation.com/tomjensen/song/3120812-nitrogen-narcosis

I'd really reserve soundtrack for key plot moments and work with atmo most of the time: sounds that are produced "in frame". This can mean music if there is a space-radio or an NPC artist.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w34fSnJNP-4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vrcpeumCiQ
but mostly it means soundscapes...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLDWKpAkRHs&list=PLt3Pke412qVfbVKecu2DhTBB95o8_rHjP
https://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_2838416579&feature=iv&src_vid=MuMsb4nzmis&v=U4p1mZnKkhc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7FhEpif1cA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TawbJN1RC8U

And DO use silence as well. If you cut a white noise after an hour or two suddenly, players will feel unsettled. And without contrast, anything becomes a drone after a while.

>>49253834
>a poetic Space Opera
Can you expand on that?

>>49253834
Foolish Human!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GX_hoYYR3E4

(To be fair Devin Townsend in general but look up the two Ziltoid albums, I'm sure you can find versions without the vocals)

For spooky ambience:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOlHvwJEf7Y

Same with playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOlHvwJEf7Y&list=PL_FkTqUZrqQBIB3QcoCS69uGz2mnS_K8o