Yoav Landau
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Living Tombstone (TLT) is an
electronic rock Electronic rock (also known as electro rock and synth rock) is a music genre that involves a combination of rock music and electronic music, featuring instruments typically found within both genres. It originates from the late 1960s when rock b ...
group and
YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
channel, originally created in 2011 by Israeli-American recording producer Yoav Landau and later including American singer Sam Haft in 2020 as a
musical duo A musical ensemble, also known as a music group, musical group, or a band is a group of people who perform Instrumental music, instrumental and/or vocal music, with the ensemble typically known by a distinct name. Some music ensembles consist ...
. The group is notable for their songs and music videos based on video games and pop culture media, such as the ''
Five Nights at Freddy's ''Five Nights at Freddy's'' (''FNaF'') is a video game series and media franchise created by Scott Cawthon that includes video games, novels, graphic novels, and films. The story arcs typically follow a night guard or other character trying t ...
'' series, ''
Overwatch ''Overwatch'' (abbreviated as OW) is a multimedia franchise centered on a series of multiplayer first-person shooter (FPS) video games developed by Blizzard Entertainment. ''Overwatch (video game), Overwatch'' was released in 2016 with a success ...
'' and ''
My Little Pony ''My Little Pony'' (''MLP'') is a toy line and media franchise developed by American toy company Hasbro. The first toys were developed by Bonnie Zacherle, Charles Muenchinger, and Steve D'Aguanno, and were produced in 1981. The ponies feature ...
'', as well as original music. Signed to
Warner Music Warner Music Group Corp., commonly abbreviated as WMG, is an American multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the " big three" recording companies and the third-largest in the gl ...
, they have released two studio albums, ''Zero One'' (2020) and ''Rust'' (2025). Several of their songs have garnered online popularity, and they have been credited with spawning various internet memes. In addition to their music videos, they have created music for the video games '' In Sound Mind'', ''
Beat Saber ''Beat Saber'' is a virtual reality rhythm game developed by Ján Ilavský, Vladimír Hrinčár, and Peter Hrinčár. The game was published by Czech game developer Beat Games and was later obtained by Oculus Studios. It takes place in many di ...
'', and have created the video game ''AudioClash: Battle of the Bands''. Music publication ''
NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...
'' has referred to them as "the internet's biggest gaming band".


Career


Background

The Living Tombstone was founded by Landau in 2011 as both a YouTube channel and a musical project. Landau, a native of
Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...
, was involved in the online fan community of the media franchise ''
My Little Pony ''My Little Pony'' (''MLP'') is a toy line and media franchise developed by American toy company Hasbro. The first toys were developed by Bonnie Zacherle, Charles Muenchinger, and Steve D'Aguanno, and were produced in 1981. The ponies feature ...
'', where he created remixes of the songs featured on '' My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic''. After one of his remixes garnered several thousand views, Landau created more songs of the franchise before eventually shifting his focus to various video game communities, creating songs based on video games. Five years after forming The Living Tombstone, Landau moved to the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
where he met vocalist Sam Haft. Haft had previously been involved with other musical projects in the past, such as the comedic music group Sam & Bill. Landau and Haft sent each other their songs before eventually collaborating on music, with Haft becoming an official member of The Living Tombstone. The pair wrote songs such as a remix of ''
Super Mario Odyssey is a 2017 platform game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. An installment in the ''Super Mario'' series, it follows Mario and his new ally Cappy—a sentient hat—as they journey across various kingdoms to save Prince ...
'''s "Jump Up Superstar" in which Haft contributed backing vocals, and the original track "My Ordinary Life" which was cited by ''
LA Weekly ''LA Weekly'' is a free weekly alternative newspaper in Los Angeles, California. The paper covers music, arts, film, theater, culture, and other local news in the Los Angeles area. ''LA Weekly'' was founded in 1978 by Jay Levin (among others), ...
'' as their most popular song. Both Landau and Haft worked on the
worldbuilding Worldbuilding is the process of constructing an imaginary world or setting (narrative), setting, sometimes associated with a fictional universe. Developing the world with coherent qualities such as a history, geography, culture and ecology is a k ...
for The Living Tombstone, including the characters, story, and lore surrounding the group's music and videos. The attention their music received online caused
Warner Music Warner Music Group Corp., commonly abbreviated as WMG, is an American multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the " big three" recording companies and the third-largest in the gl ...
to notice the band, and the record label signed The Living Tombstone.


Content and musical style

The Living Tombstone's content consists of both original music and homages to various video games and pop culture media, several of which became popular online. One of the group's first video game-related videos was a trilogy of songs for the first three games in the ''
Five Nights at Freddy's ''Five Nights at Freddy's'' (''FNaF'') is a video game series and media franchise created by Scott Cawthon that includes video games, novels, graphic novels, and films. The story arcs typically follow a night guard or other character trying t ...
'' series. The trilogy went viral on YouTube with each song accumulating hundreds of millions of views; the first video in the series reached over 68 million views by 2016 and over 372 million views by 2024. ''
Houston Press The ''Houston Press'' is an online newspaper published in Houston, Texas, United States. It is headquartered in the Midtown Houston, Midtown area. It was also a weekly print newspaper until November 2017. The publication is supported entirely ...
'' listed the trilogy as one of the best songs based on the horror game. The trilogy's success led the band to develop a cult following amongst the game's
fandom A fandom is a subculture composed of Fan (person), fans characterized by a feeling of camaraderie with others who share a common interest. Fans typically are interested in even minor details of the objects of their fandom and spend a significan ...
. ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...
'' credited the band with launching a subgenre of ''Five Nights at Freddy's'' themed music inspired by
hyper-pop Hyperpop (sometimes called bubblegum bass) is a loosely defined electronic music movement and microgenre that predominantly originated during the early 2010s in the United Kingdom. It is characterised by an exaggerated or maximalist take on pop ...
. The first song was later used for the 2023
film adaptation A film adaptation transfers the details or story of an existing source text, such as a novel, into a feature film. This transfer can involve adapting most details of the source text closely, including characters or plot points, or the original sou ...
in the credits. Shortly before the film's release, the band released a gothic remix of the first song. After the film's release, the song reached the top 5 of ''
Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
s
Dance/Electronic Songs Hot Dance/Electronic Songs (formerly Dance/Electronic Songs) is a record chart has been published weekly by ''Billboard'' since January 2013. It is their first chart to be published that ranks the most popular dance and electronic songs according ...
chart, peaking at #4, previously only charting on the
Dance/Electronic Digital Song Sales The ''Billboard'' charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. The results are published in ''Billboard'' magazine. ''Billboard'' biz, the online extension of the ''Billboard'' charts, p ...
chart. In 2018, The Living Tombstone's song based on the hero shooter game ''
Overwatch ''Overwatch'' (abbreviated as OW) is a multimedia franchise centered on a series of multiplayer first-person shooter (FPS) video games developed by Blizzard Entertainment. ''Overwatch (video game), Overwatch'' was released in 2016 with a success ...
'', "No Mercy", went viral on social media. Originally released as an animated video from YouTube channel Mashed in January 2017, the song describes two players on the same team arguing about their choice of characters and its contributions to the team's repeated losses, mainly due to the lack of a support character in the team. The song features the refrain "I'm Already Tracer," which became the subject of numerous videos made on social media platform
TikTok TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin (), is a social media and Short-form content, short-form online video platform owned by Chinese Internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration f ...
in which users recorded themselves lip-synching to the song. The meme attracted negative attention as it was the subject of various "cringe" compilations on social media. Outlets such as ''
Kotaku ''Kotaku'' is a video game website and blog that was originally launched in 2004 as part of the Gawker Media network. Notable former contributors to the site include Luke Smith, Cecilia D'Anastasio, Tim Rogers, and Jason Schreier. History ...
'', ''
Polygon In geometry, a polygon () is a plane figure made up of line segments connected to form a closed polygonal chain. The segments of a closed polygonal chain are called its '' edges'' or ''sides''. The points where two edges meet are the polygon ...
'' and ''
The Daily Dot ''The Daily Dot'' is a digital media company covering the culture of the Internet and the World Wide Web. It was founded by Nicholas White in 2011, and is headquartered in Austin, Texas. The site, conceived as the Internet's "hometown newsp ...
'' noted that such compilations soon became rooted in
misogyny Misogyny () is hatred of, contempt for, or prejudice against Woman, women or girls. It is a form of sexism that can keep women at a lower social status than Man, men, thus maintaining the social roles of patriarchy. Misogyny has been wide ...
, with comments disparaging those who created such videos miming to the song alongside mocking women who play video games in general. Gita Jackson of ''Kotaku'' also offered criticism for the song's production and vocals; however, she noted its catchy melody and relatable lyrics. Other songs of theirs that have become viral include their remix of various ''My Little Pony'' songs and a remix of " Spooky, Scary Skeletons". In 2012, The Living Tombstone remixed the song "Discord" from the
Eurobeat Eurobeat refers to two styles of dance music that originated in Europe: one is a British variant of Italian Eurodisco-influencedAng, Ien & Morley, David (2005). "Cultural Studies: Volume 3, Issue 2". ''Routledge''. pgs. 171, 173, 170. . "Eurorec ...
producer Odyssey/Eurobeat Brony, which accumulated over 40 million views on YouTube and was used in over 500,000 videos on TikTok in 2021. In 2013, Landau made a remix of
Andrew Gold Andrew Maurice Gold (August 2, 1951 – June 3, 2011) was an American multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, and record producer who influenced much of the Los Angeles-dominated pop rock, pop/soft rock sound in the 1970s. Gold performed on s ...
's 1996 song "Spooky, Scary Skeletons," which garnered over 90 million views on YouTube. The remix was also listed by ''The Daily Dot'' as one of the most popular songs of 2019 on TikTok, and as one of the best
Halloween songs Halloween, or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve), is a celebration observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Hallows' Day. It is at the begin ...
by ''
USA Today ''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...
''. The band also created another remix of Gold's "Witches, Witches, Witches" song in 2023, which was released on a new vinyl pressing of Gold's album ''Halloween Howls: Fun & Scary Music.'' The group's music has been labeled as
electronic rock Electronic rock (also known as electro rock and synth rock) is a music genre that involves a combination of rock music and electronic music, featuring instruments typically found within both genres. It originates from the late 1960s when rock b ...
,
alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...
and
pop rock Pop rock (also typeset as pop/rock) is a fusion genre and form of rock music characterized by a strong commercial appeal, with more emphasis on professional songwriting and recording craft, and less emphasis on attitude than standard rock musi ...
, with influences from EDM and
Middle Eastern The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...
folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...
. Landau has also stated that genres such as
complextro Electro house is a genre of electronic dance music and a subgenre of house music characterized by heavy bass and a tempo around 125–135 beats per minute. The term has been used to describe the music of many ''DJ Mag'' Top 100 DJs, including B ...
,
dubstep Dubstep is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in South London in the early 2000s. The style emerged as a UK garage offshoot that blended 2-step rhythms and sparse dub production, as well as incorporating elements of broken ...
and
drum 'n bass Drum and bass (commonly abbreviated as DnB, D&B, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterised by fast breakbeats (typically 165–185 beats per minute) with heavy bass and sub-bass lines, samples, and synthesizers. The genre ...
have inspired the band's musical style. The band has been regarded as an
audiovisual Audiovisual (AV) is electronic media possessing both a sound and a visual component, such as slide-tape presentations, films, television programs, corporate conferencing, church services, and live theater productions. Audiovisual service provide ...
project. Their music and aesthetics have been compared to
Gorillaz Gorillaz are an English virtual band created by musician Damon Albarn and artist Jamie Hewlett in London, England in 1998. The band primarily consists of four fictional members: (vocals, keyboards), Murdoc Niccals (bass guitar), Noodle (gui ...
and
Daft Punk Daft Punk were a French electronic music duo formed in 1993 in Paris by Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo. They achieved popularity in the late 1990s as part of the French house movement, combining house music, funk, disco, tech ...
, along with
Lindsey Stirling Lindsey Stirling (born September 21, 1986) is an American violinist, songwriter and dancer. She presents choreographed violin performances, in live and music videos found on her official YouTube channel, which she created in 2007. Stirling per ...
's videos. The group has two studio albums, ''Zero One'', released on September 4, 2020, and ''Rust'', released on May 30, 2025. For ''Zero One'', music videos were released for the three singles that supported the album, including a CG-based music video for their song "Chosen" created by animation studio The-Artery during the
COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...
pandemic. On January 31, 2025, the band announced their sophomore album's lead single "Be Alone" would release on February 7. ''Rust'', initially being announced for a 2024 release, was released on May 30, 2025.


Game development

The Living Tombstone has also contributed music for video games. In 2021, the band created the soundtrack for the indie horror game '' In Sound Mind'' from Israeli game studio We Create Stuff. Their contributions to the soundtrack were praised alongside the game, with several outlets noting that the poignant and reserved compositions added to the dark atmosphere of the game. The same year, The Living Tombstone collaborated with game studio Big Boat Interactive to create the music-based strategy game '' AudioClash: Battle of the Bands.'' Described as an amalgam of various rhythm games, the
role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, or abbreviated as RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out ...
s ''
Pokémon is a Japanese media franchise consisting of List of Pokémon video games, video games, Pokémon (TV series), animated series and List of Pokémon films, films, Pokémon Trading Card Game, a trading card game, and other related media. The fran ...
'' and ''
Dota ''Dota'' is a series of strategy video games. The series began in 2003 with the release of ''Defense of the Ancients'' (''DotA''), a fan-developed multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) custom map for the video game ''Warcraft III: Reign of Ch ...
'' and the ''
Scott Pilgrim ''Scott Pilgrim'' is a series of graphic novels by Canadian author and comic book artist Bryan Lee O'Malley. The original edition of the series consists of six digest size black-and-white volumes, released between August 2004 and July 2010, by P ...
'' comics, the gameplay consists of assembling a group of musician characters to compete against rival bands. The game was released on
Steam Steam is water vapor, often mixed with air or an aerosol of liquid water droplets. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization. Saturated or superheated steam is inv ...
in early access in late 2021. The group also contributed a DLC track to the 2019 rhythm game ''
Beat Saber ''Beat Saber'' is a virtual reality rhythm game developed by Ján Ilavský, Vladimír Hrinčár, and Peter Hrinčár. The game was published by Czech game developer Beat Games and was later obtained by Oculus Studios. It takes place in many di ...
'', as well as some music for the 2010 ''
Half-Life 2 ''Half-Life 2'' is a 2004 first-person shooter game developed and published by Valve Corporation. It was published for Windows on Valve's digital distribution service, Steam. Like the original ''Half-Life'' (1998), ''Half-Life 2'' is played ent ...
'' Mod '' Nightmare House 2'' and the soundtrack for its upcoming remake '' Nightmare House: Reimagined'' releasing in 2025.


Discography


Albums


Studio albums

* ''Zero One'' (2020) * ''Rust'' (2025)


Remix albums

* ''Tombstone Remixes'' (2013) * ''Zero One: Reloaded'' (2021)


Compilation albums

* ''Zero One: Deluxe'' (2023) * ''Internet Childhood'' (2024)


Soundtracks

* ''
Portal Portal may refer to: Arts and entertainment Gaming * ''Portal'' (series), a series of video games developed by Valve ** ''Portal'' (video game), a 2007 video game, the first in the series ** '' Portal 2'', the 2011 sequel ** '' Portal Stori ...
: The Flash Version MapPack – Original Soundtrack'' (2008) (Yoav Landau as "Koolfox") * '' Nightmare House 2 (Official Soundtrack)'' (2010) (Yoav Landau as "Koolfox") * '' MFP: My Friend Pedro'' ''(Original Soundtrack)'' (2014) * '' In Sound Mind (The Original Soundtrack)'' (2021) * '' Hazbin Hotel (Original Soundtrack)'' (2024) (Sam Haft) * ''Nightmare House: Reimagined – Original Soundtrack'' (2025)


As guest composer

* ''
Beat Saber ''Beat Saber'' is a virtual reality rhythm game developed by Ján Ilavský, Vladimír Hrinčár, and Peter Hrinčár. The game was published by Czech game developer Beat Games and was later obtained by Oculus Studios. It takes place in many di ...
(Original Game Soundtrack), Vol V'' (2021) * ''
Five Nights at Freddy's ''Five Nights at Freddy's'' (''FNaF'') is a video game series and media franchise created by Scott Cawthon that includes video games, novels, graphic novels, and films. The story arcs typically follow a night guard or other character trying t ...
'' (2023)


EPs

* ''Bad Times'' (2023) (Sam Haft) * ''I Love You Too'' (2025) (Yoav Landau as "SugarVision")


Singles


As lead artist


As featured artist


Remixes


Songwriting and production credits


Notes


References


Further reading

* * *


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Living Tombstone, The 10K Projects artists American electronic rock musical groups American YouTube groups Geek rock groups Music YouTubers Musical groups established in 2011 Newgrounds people Warner Records artists YouTube channels launched in 2011 Internet memes introduced in 2014