Grand Theft Auto 5 Soundtrack: Wavves, Flying Lotus + More DJ Their Own Stations

Music will play a huge role in Grand Theft Auto 5, the next installment of Rockstar Games' insanely popular video game series, due out Sept. 17. In a new interview, the game's soundtrack supervisor unveiled the details of how the game will sound.

"We have 15 radio stations, two talk radio stations, 240 licensed songs, and somewhere in the proximity of 20 movies worth of score," Ivan Pavlovich told Rolling Stone. "For this game, which is set in our version of modern day Los Angeles, what was important for us was to capture that feeling of L.A. and California. We approached the radio stations as the musical soundscape [you experience] as you fly into L.A. One of the things we've never done in a GTA game before is a pop station; exploring that made so much sense in the context of L.A."

In order to achieve that goal, Pavlovich leaned heavily on L.A. acts. The game's modern rock station, called Vinewood Boulevard Radio, is hosted by Stephen Pope and Nate Williams from Wavves. Mexican, West Coast hip-hop, outlaw country, '80s funk and classic rock also have their own stations.

Flying Lotus had a hand in curating his electronic music station, which also features a new collaboration he did rapper Tyler, the Creator. "What Steve [Ellison, Flying Lotus' real name] did so well was that he reached out to all of his artist friends and asked them to send him music," he added. "You'll find some classics on his station, but a lot of the station is based on unreleased new material, created either by Steve himself or friends of his who submitted music to him for this project. Steve's a huge gamer, so I think this was as exciting for him as it was for us to work together."

The game's score -- a collaboration between Tangerine Dream, Woody Jackson and Alchemist and Oh No -- was also a first. "The score plays during missions and the open world gameplay, and during online play," he said. "It's completely dynamic, and engineered very similar to what we've done in the past with our interactive stem system – it responds to what you're doing with your character."

Pavlovich said 'Grand Theft Auto 5' has both the largest soundtrack and score of any game they've done to date.