9 Geeky Musicians You’ve Never Heard Of

1. Samuel Kim

Some of the best soundtracks lend themselves to being covered in a range of styles.

A set of recognisable bars, verse that remains distinct and yet able to be twisted in instrument and pacing, these elements allow for cover artists to show the full extent of what a piece of music is capable of.

Samuel Kim has taken this fact and turned it up to 11. A cover artist specialising in orchestral-style music layering through the lens of heavy rock, his work with the soundtracks of popular game, TV and film OSTs is nothing short of astounding.

With care and acute awareness of what is really essential to making a piece of music impactful, his covers of tracks from Star Wars, Attack on Titan, Lord of the Rings and many others are eminently re-listenable works.

Engaging with styles ranging from a Two Steps From Hell-esque epic and conventional heavy rock, to genres as disparate as Soviet-style tracks and Mongolian Hu, his frequent releases are continually staggering examples of creative talent.

With a recent deluge of tracks relating to The Mandalorian TV series, ones that draw inspiration from across the full Star Wars franchise (including even the old Republic Commando video game and its memorable Vode An), Kim has given us a selection of tracks whose complexity and range is unmatched in the nerdy corner of the music industry.

Contributor

My passion for all things Sci Fi goes back to my earliest days, when old VHS copies of Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet gripped my tiny mind with their big, noisy vehicles and terrifying puppets. I'd like to say my taste got more refined over the years, but between the Warhammer, Space Dandy and niche Star Wars EU books, perhaps it just got broader. I've enjoyed games of all calibre since I figured out that dice weren't just for eating, and have written prose ever since I was left unsupervised with some crayons next to a white wall. I got away with it by calling it "schoolwork" for as long as I could, and university helped me keep the charade going a while longer. Since my work began to get published, it's made all those long hours repainting the walls seem worth it.