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...play some of the most authentically steampunk music of any recording artist I know of. Black Angels evokes for me Civil-war-torn wastelands and tattered banners catching the winds, red, white and blue bunting and the tears of mothers for their sons and husbands, whose blood soaks into European soil.

The gramophone crackle and hiss on some Kronos tracks doesn't hurt, either.

Like Tom Waits, not all of their music is steamy, but a goodly portion of their catalog is not at all out of place in this elegant-yet-perilous clockwork nineteenth century airship sub-terrain of ours. Another great example of steampunk-without-trying-to-be-steampunk.

For your consideration...

http://video.google.com/videosearch?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US surprised fficial&channel=s&hl=en&q=kronos+quartet&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=NYiuSfW7PKDjmQe97ZygBg&sa=X&oi=video_result_group&resnum=4&ct=title#

EDIT: Does anyone know how I can get a copy of their soundtrack to Metropolis? Apparently it was never released, but I know it exists because I've seen the film.

Actually, I've been following their music for quite some time. And I'm lucky enough to live in San Francisco, where they're from, so I can see them live. I really like their "Flugufrelsarinn"... very soothing and beautiful.

Definitely not my cup of tea, even though normally I fall for almost everything that involves strings. xp

xp
For a moment I was all [enter fangirl mode]"Yay, Sigur Rós cover!"[exit fangirl mode], but I guess I'll just stick with the original... sweatdrop

Though it's not after my fancy, I have to agree that some of those songs are definitely rather steamy and would fit considerably well as background music for typical Steampunk scenes.