I'm aware there's already a thread for music suggestions, but Zone deserves its own space, I think we can agree. The right music on the right Zone track can be an otherworldly experience. It seems to demand longer music, like trance or classical, that starts off slow and gradually builds, but with very distinct transitions that may coincide with the sweeping Zone change effect.

The progression of colors also seems to suggest music that has a change in mood as well as tempo. For example, if you race Mallovol to Happy Valley by Vanessa Mae, the brighter more yellow theme at Phantom class will coincide with the more playful mood of the music later on. You almost get the sense that you're racing through a celestial wheat field. The beats also match the frequency of the speed pads very well. By the time you get to Zen and the theme switches to a very different shade of black, the drums will have eased off, leaving a solo chorus, and eventually the end of the song, which you can follow with something more appropriate to Zen.

The swirly background elements to the Pure Four, which I don't particularly like, nonetheless seem more appropriate with string instruments. The echoey concert hall style sound seems to travel through the large spacious design of the Pure Four. Even better might be some music with nature sounds, so that it sounded like it was recorded outside, maybe while gazing up into space. You get a combination like that with some trance music and that seems to fit some other Wipeout tracks. Anulpha Pass Reverse and its seemingly contradictory interior spaces with an open sky seem to match BT's Firewater, which sounds like it was recorded at the intersection of heaven and earth. Firewater has some annoying singing elements at the end, which are too moody and dramatic for Zen, so be sure to snip it.

I even have some straight up recordings of rain and thunderstorms without music and I find that that goes really, really well with some Zone Battles. You never know how long a Zone Battle will last, but you have this instinctual idea, like with an approaching storm. The cracks of thunder in the visualizer are awesome and seem to ominously foreshadow the rain of barriers, or your electrifying win over the competition, according to taste. Here's a great one I just found. I had started by taking the first 50 seconds of African Rain by DJ Quicksilver and deleting the whole rest of the song. There's so much good stuff out there, it's just hard to sift through sometimes.

What do you recommend?