What music is the soundtrack to a cyberpunk world for you?
For me, I'm not sure.
I love synthwave like GUNSHIP and PYLOT and Essenger as much as the next cyberpunk, but besides a few particular GUNSHIP and Essenger songs, they don't feel quite right.
Neither does straight up punk rock or metal, which is the other stuff I listen to.
The cyberpunk music I want needs to be a blend of the two I think — the atmospheric sounds and use of synths and technological effects from synthwave, and the overt rage and message and aggressive, imperfect rock sound of punk rock and metal.
I have always been partial to the Ghost in the Shell soundtrack. The intro chant from the 1995 movie has a more ethnic vibe as well, which is quite cool and a nice change of pace from the usual techno. The SAC series soundtrack is quite nice and varied also.
Of course, CP2077 has some real bangers.. I'd probably want a mix of music to suit the setting.
Ghost in the Shell is a good one. I do like the less western/techno flairs. Actually, that's something I really like about Akira's soundtrack as well, now that I think about it. And yeah, I agree, having music to suit the mood and setting is always important!
CP2077's music for me honestly comes the closest across the board to being what I want, while still having a ton of variety. But it isn't music I can typically enjoy listening to out of game for some reason.