“I became friends with the people at Wizards of the Coast, who make D&D, around 2015. They figured out that some members of our band were playing D&D, so they asked if we wanted to be on their podcast,” recalls The Decemberists multi-instrumentalist Chris Funk. That relationship led him to curate and produce the 19-track Spelljams—a two-LP compilation inspired by Spelljammer: Adventures in Space, the D&D campaign released this past summer. “I have had some experience doing some music supervision and rallying concerts, so I basically said, ‘If you guys ever want to do anything in music, let me know because I love D&D and it’d be fun to try something different.’”

Funk’s initial connection to the game came during an era that has become a cultural touchpoint. “I’m 50 years old, so I’m exactly the kid from Stranger Things down to the bowl cut,” he says with a laugh. “At the time, there was a Saturday morning cartoon with D&D and it was just this omnipresent thing. There was no social media back then, obviously, but it was passed from kid to kid, and it was in the cultural zeitgeist of my suburban upbringing around the Chicago area.”

He continued to play off and on over the years, and he finally began a professional relationship with Wizards in 2019, when he helped put together the musical celebration that closed out the D&D Live 2019 event. From there, he continued to speak with the company about additional collaborative ventures, which ultimately yielded the opportunity to create the first-ever officially sanctioned musical accompaniment to a D&D product, the “Light of Xaryxis” adventure module that accompanies Spelljammer.

“As we were envisioning this project,” Funk recalls, “I asked questions like, ‘Is it an underscore to play and how literal does it have to point back to the Spelljammer story?’ And what we landed on is that it should be an ‘inspired by’ album. It should be music that you can also listen to independently. Then, in chatting with Chris Perkins [story architect at D&D and lead designer of Spelljammer], he was like, ‘Look, this is 12 chapters. Let’s get 12 artists to take a chapter and write whatever they want to write about.’ We ended up with 19 artists because the interest was strong.”

When it came to selecting the musicians, Funk explains, “The way I started off thinking about this was to say, ‘OK, this is space.’ Chris Perkins talked a lot about Flash Gordon, the ‘80s movie with music by Queen. So there was anthem rock, a little light touch to the ‘80s, but what else is out there? What does space sound like? Then, I made a playlist with George Clinton and Sun Ra because they think about space. But then I decided, ‘That’s really human space and this is wildspace, so we need to push harder and get people away from human space to think about this active cosmic space.’ I also wanted to push through the genres to get a deeper breadth of music and not just stick with indie-rock or stoner rock, which can make a great backdrop to your D&D game.

“Some of the artists I approached had played D&D, like Reggie Watts or John Dwyer of the Osees, but some others hadn’t. All of the artists were given the full PDF, which could be challenging for anybody who isn’t a dungeon master to flip through that and get the gist, although some people did. They also were given some artwork, and Chris Perkin wrote up two CliffsNotes versions of the story, one of which was chapter-specific. Then, once an artist committed, I got on a Zoom call with them and one of the co-writers named Chris Lindsay, who walked through the story and gave some prompts. Some grabbed onto a perceived relationship between two people or a moon or some very small thing that inspired them. Other people dug into specific narrative elements from the storyline.

“Wizards maintains a foot in the past and foot in the future. Their attitude is: ‘We’ve got to keep pushing forward a little bit.’ So in the music zone, they gave us creative freedom and told us, ‘Go for it.’”

Magic Sword “Seeds of Destruction”

I didn’t have many suggestions for the artists but with this one, I did explain that I was looking for an epic intro. I was hoping to start it off by referencing Queen and that ‘70s/‘80s period of classic rock with big singing.

Magic Sword uses a lot of ‘80s synths in their approach, but they’re an instrumental band, so I asked them if they would be open to working with a vocalist for the first time. They said sure, so the singer on there is a guy named Kyle Craft. I’ve made some records with Kyle; he has this massive Meatloaf voice. I once did a David Bowie Labyrinth show with him and when he chooses to engage that voice, he can get into that Freddie Mercury anthem rock zone. That was the objective on the song.

Osees “Arena of Blood”

This track is so aggressive, it may be the opposite of what we think of when we think of D&D music, although there’s also a history of stoner rock and ‘70s rock associated with the game. So I think it’s a statement.

John Dwyer plays D&D religiously, but he’s never really outwardly committed to it beyond calling his album Orc and having creatures that are very much in line with the Monster Manual on the front cover. John quickly gravitated toward chapter eight of the module. Spoiler: It’s a big battle scene called “Arena of Blood.” I knew John would deliver something that represented the more violent battle side of D&D. I think he really nailed it. D&D can be a fantastical world, but let’s face it, there’s a lot of combat. So someone had to get in there and do it, which is what the Osees did with this track.

Reggie Watts “Space Is a Place”

I love this one because although Reggie is a humorist, in my mind—first and foremost—he’s an incredible singer, looper and beatboxer. I asked him to lean into the electro-funk world of Parliament Funkadelic and just run with it, wherever he wanted to go. He obviously took it in a bit of a Star Trek direction. [Laughs.] It’s funny, but it’s also a great song, which is hard to do. It’s a really fun track but it also sets up the world of spelljamming and wildspace.

TEKE::TEKE

“Visible Lights” TEKE::TEKE is on Kill Rock Stars, the record label we partnered with for the release. They threw a couple of names at me and I wasn’t familiar with them but after watching some live videos, I thought they were so interesting. They’re from Montreal, but the singer [Maya Kuroki] is Japanese and the band asked, “What do you think if she sings in Japanese?” I put that to Wizards of the Coast, and they were all for it. They said, “There are all kinds of languages in the world of Spelljammer.”

This track sounds amazing. I can imagine myself flying through space to it. There are elements of suspense and danger. It’s also haunting and sort of forlorn, but I love the arrangement they did.

Black Marble “Far”

When I first began thinking about all this, Black Marble happened to be in rotation because I’m a fan. So I wrote him, and he wrote me right back saying he would do it.

Black Marble is a great artist. It’s one guy, Chris Stewart, and a lot of the stuff that he does involves ‘80s-style synths. As I’ve mentioned, we were sort of starting in the ‘80s; although, I didn’t want to be so referential that we were squarely back to the soundtrack for Stranger Things. However, arpeggiating synths are a fine starting point. It’s such a great song that when he turned it in, he was like, “I really want to keep this, but I’m gonna give it up.” [Laughs.]

It’s cool that it’s near the front of the album because you’ve departed the tavern and you’re journeying out in space. It’s also interesting that he chose to write lyrics centered around missing your homeland.

Mikaela Davis “Left Hand Path”

In the world of Tolkien, we have an idea of what D&D music sounds like. So I told everybody: “Please do not recreate the Game of Thrones soundtrack. As much as I like elf rock and Blackmore’s Night and everything like that, please don’t do it.”

Having said that, I wanted Mikaela to be part of this. She plays the harp, which is a slight nod to those things, although she’d probably hate me for saying that because she’s transcended the harp.

Mikaela leaned right into the story and wrote an incredible song with her band. She grabbed onto this character and again, as a spoiler for the adventure, this person is missing a hand. So “Left Hand Path” is referencing this character’s fate. I think it’s such an interesting song—from the odd meter to the singing, the lyrics and the arrangement. It’s really great.

Lucius “love is the disaster”

I’m friends with Lucius. We’ve toured together, and I think they’re incredible singers. Their stage presence is fantastic and otherworldly, in particular with their new album. Jess [Wolfe] and Holly [Laessig] like to play board games. So they made sense to me just by who they are. I don’t think they’ve played D & D, but I think they would lean right into it.

Their track is about a relationship—love is the disaster, love is a monster. They really went outside of the narrative, which I think is cool. Someone might scratch their head and be like, “Why is this on Spelljammer?” But again, I go back to the top of the project. It’s not meant to be an underscore—it’s meant to be an album inspired by. People look at paintings and write about them. Here, they’re looking at a D&D module and taking it as an art piece. So I think this exemplifies the possible mission forward of writing a song about D&D.

Penny and Sparrow “Xedalli”

Penny and Sparrow came to me through another artist manager, who caught wind of the project. They really hadn’t come across my plate. I’ve supervised a couple of other compilations and it’s fun to have people throw you artists because it gets you out of your curatorial brain and expands the genre. When I heard them, I realized that they’re amazing and they’ve got this huge catalog.

It also turns out that they play D&D a lot. When I spoke with Andy [Baxter], he said that he really dove hard into this character Princess Xendalli. It’s about her and what happens to her in the world. They delivered this sort of R&B folk ballad that I thought was amazing.

So now we’re departing very far from Queen, anthem rock and stoner rock. As Chris Perkins said, “I can imagine someone in the tavern singing that song in the corner.” It’s a great song, particularly if you know the story. But it’s also a great song period. They really dove into the project.

Y La Bamba “Moon Dancer”

Luz Elena [Mendoza] is an artist from Mexico and Portland, Ore. She’s one of my very good friends, and I think she’s an incredible songwriter. She’s a total cosmic traveler and I knew she was going to do something great. What she handed in was beautiful.

Allowing artists the freedom to interpret was an exciting part of this for them. It was an opportunity to get out of whatever rhythm they usually write with and look to other sources of inspiration. They could draw on something other than their own experiences. Wizards of the Coast was really hands off and truly partnered with everyone, encouraging their explorations, which is similar to the creative relationship they have with their players. So it was fun to have carte blanche to make art with Wizards’ full support.

Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith “Light of Xaryxis”

I’m such a fan. I do modular synthesis also, which is analog synthesis. She’s a hero of mine and she also has been starting to sing and use her voice. I was like, “Feel free to write lyrics or, if it’s an instrumental, that’s totally cool, too. Do whatever you want to do.” And there ended up being some voice in there.

Thinking about referencing human space while also trying to get away from it, modular synthesis has always had this sort of cosmic sound. At times, it’s an unnerving sound, but it’s also peaceful and warm. We had room on the album for what I guess you could identify as an electronic artist, and she delivered something unique.

MonoNeon “Spacefighters”

MonoNeon sort of represents the funk side—the George Clinton side—of my brain. He helped me go back to it while also trying to step away from it. The song’s called “Spacefighters” but again, this isn’t human space—it’s fantastical space. It seems to me that Mono lives in character his entire life, which is something I say with deep admiration and respect. So I figured he would get the whole idea quickly, which he did. I think he’s such an amazing musician, singer and creative that it would’ve been a miss if he couldn’t do it.

Cardioid & pink paint “Crystalline Climbers”

pink paint is actually me. There was room for one more track because we had a couple of artists that couldn’t be on there due to label restrictions. We already had 18 tracks, and I thought we were fine, but the people at D&D kept asking me: “Funk, aren’t you going to be on this?” At first, I said no, but then I was like, “Why not?”

Cardioid is a singer named Lizzy Ellison. I had originally asked her to participate but she told me she was not in a writing phase right now. Then, I sent her a track with a bass synth on it, some drums and a few other sounds, along with a prompt.

She dug right in because while she wasn’t in the mood to write about herself, she was happy to write about something else. She added some more synths, sang on it and took it to the next level. The lyrics are referential to the chapter she’s singing about, and they’re really great.

Devon Gilfillian “Me and The Moon”

I know Devon through Newport [where Funk has maintained an active presence as a performer and a curator since 2009]. I don’t think he identifies as an R&B, soul or rock singer specifically, but to me, there was space for a singer who has roots in those places to hear what they would do with music for D&D.

In the meeting with Chris Lindsay where we talked about this world, Devon got really excited about the concept of wildspace. Wildspace is an active place with creatures flying around in it while people are traveling through. It’s not a vast dead space, like in Star Wars.

So he jumped into this and created “Me and the Moon,” which I thought was amazing.

Red Fang “Endless Sea”

Red Fang are fans of the genre. They have a video that references LARPing called “Prehistoric Dog,” which is really funny. They’re friends of mine and I’ve produced stuff for them. I felt like we needed one more heavy track. They can write these epic, sometimes fantasy-inspired songs. They’re often talking about the darker sides of the world.

Here, they also delivered some of that classic stoner rock, one of those tropes which I didn’t want to overrepresent, but I really like what they did with it.

Nolan Potter’s Nightmare Band “Ghost of the Nautiloid”

Nolan Potter was a recommendation from John Dwyer of the Osees. I was not familiar with Nolan, but I started listening to his music and I was like, “Wow, this guy’s a genius.” The track he handed in was like a mini Zappa score. It’s really interesting.

This was one of the early tracks and he really leaned into the lyrics—singing about the Nautiloid, which is very specific to the adventure. His music is always a journey and unique. I think he played almost all the instruments on there too, which is impressive.

I saw him as someone who could deliver something that would lean not into full progressive rock, but something that was more akin to Zappa and the composed-rock world.

Deru & Arooj Aftab “Forgotten Land”

Deru is an electronic artist who I love and I just cold-called him. He told me that he thinks about space when he’s writing his newer music, which makes total sense to me.

I did want to have a couple of instrumental moments, but I said to everybody who was doing this: “This is also a time for collaboration.” So I asked him, “Have you ever worked with a vocalist?” He said, “No, not really.”

So I made a few suggestions and he honed in on Arooj Aftab. She was on my radar because I’m a fan of hers. He said, “This person’s amazing. Can you get her?” I wrote management, but she’s having a moment right now. [Aftab just won a Grammy for Best Global Music Performance.] She was a little difficult to get through to but, when I finally spoke with her, she was like, “You can stop your pitch right now. I grew up reading Dragonlance.” [Laughs.]

That was a great collaboration. They handed in a track that was eight minutes long but I loved the vibe of it—which is specific to one of the chapters—so I juggled some stuff.

Wizard of Waz “Topolah’s Song”

Wizard of Waz is Jenn Wasner from Wye Oak, who has another band called Flock of Dimes. She also plays with Bon Iver. I toured with Jen and she is somewhat of a board game nerd. I love her voice and, to me, a lot of her music in Flock of Dimes has a Kate Bush influence, which maybe is getting back to the land of fairies a little bit. [Laughs.] She’s a great singer and an incredible guitar player. She was eager to participate and released it under that name, which I thought was really cool.

Califone “chaotic. evil.astral.elves”

This was a suggestion from Rob Jones at Kill Rock Stars, who deserves a lot of credit for the album. He worked really hard on this project with me and continues to do so in the marketing of it. He releases Califone music on his own imprint, which is called Jealous Butcher. He kept saying that Tim [Rutili] would do a great job on this. I’ve been a fan of Califone for a long time so I said, “Let’s do it.”

This track was just incredible, even in the spelling of the title. I wrote Tim an email to ask, “Is this how you want it spelled?” And he was like, “Yes, it just seemed right.” I really like what he delivered.

Shabazz Palaces “The Door to Endlessness”

It seemed like a miss not to have some hip-hop on the album, which we kind of ended up not really having. Shabazz was going to be the guy. He’s a Digable Planets legend as well as a legend to me in the Pacific Northwest and beyond. When he is in full rhyme mode, I don’t want to say his music is avant garde hip-hop, but it uses so much jazz. What he does is compelling and perfect for this world.

He asked a lot of questions about the track. He got into thinking about Hans Zimmer, and the Blade Runner [2049] soundtrack. He was like, “I’m going with this Hans Zimmer thing.” And I told him: “That’s perfect.” Then he checked in with me and said there was going to be a chant in another language before the people are leaving the Moondancer to go into battle. He kind of put up this big thesis defense of what he was going do, and I was like, “Man, that sounds killer.”

I never once asked him to rhyme on it because that’s what I thought he did. Then he handed in the track, which was really long, amazing and bizarre. But that’s D&D. It is bizarre at times, and I say bizarre as a total compliment. Shabazz was making pure art and stepped outside of himself. It’s a longer track, and it felt like a good ending. It sets a vibe and it could have been the first track, too.