61 Frames Per Second : pitchfork

The One Thing I Know How To Say: "Thank You Mario..."

Derrick Sanskrit — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 16:00:00 GMT

John Darnielle is already a friend of Nerve, and now we know that he is a friend of gamers as well. John's musical project The Mountain Goats just released their new single "Thank You Mario, But Our Princess Is In Another Castle," a hauntingly delicate ballad from the perspective of an imprisoned Toad in Super Mario Bros. featuring Kaki King on drum, glockenspiel and backup vocals. Beautiful.

We'll forgive the fact that John references Magikoopas, who didn't appear until Super Mario World, by which point Toads were no longer held captive at the end of each world. The song is just too sweet and heart-touching to get caught up in nerd details.

Thanks again to our friends over at Pitchfork for sharing this bit of game-related beauty with us.

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Chiptune Friday: Leeni's 8 Bit Heart PLUS Bonus Music Video!

Derrick Sanskrit — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 16:30:00 GMT

Two things are certain in listening to Leeni's "Perfection Interrupted":

1 - This girl has some strong opinions about popular media.

2 - She must really dislike whoever this song is about.

Nonetheless, it is a beautiful example of a finely crafted pop song composed with the Game Boy's nanoloop.

If you enjoyed this sweet li'l jam, you can grab Leeni's 8 Bit Heart album from CD Baby or iTunes and learn more about Leeni on her website.

Also, it seems the hipster tastemakers over at Pitchfork.tv just keep on keeping on with the chiptune love for the fourth week in a row. First a music video by Truckasauras, then two weeks of the Reformat the Planet documentary, and this week they bring us a video from Baltimore musician Adventure for his single "Ultrazone":

Adventure openly admits that he is not trying to be a part of the chiptune scene, especially since he uses a midi keyboard and not video game hardware, but much like VHS or Beta and the dancepunk scene of the early aughts, the sound is so similar to what others are doing at the same time that its hard not to get lumped into the group.

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Chiptune Friday: Bionic Commando - A New Breed of Hero

Derrick Sanskrit — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 17:00:00 GMT

I have to admit, I kind of got used to John's daily posts about the majesty of Bionic Commando, and while Rearmed has been keeping my DualShock3 rumbling with delight since then, I still feel something missing when I'm away from the game for too long. Thankfully, this little gem from the 1988 NES version was around to keep my headphones warm with hot lead.

This tune only plays in one stage of the game, Area 8, and that's a shame because it so perfectly captures the black ops action mood of the entire game with its cool jazz-like square waves, intensified by the rat-a-tat of the noise channel's marching snare. To top it off, Area 8 is one of the coolest looking levels of Rearmed as many of the rooms are backlit, producing beautiful silhouettes in monochromatic blue hallways. Replace the bazooka with a tenor saxophone and it's jazz personified...almost...

Changing gears a bit, it seems there has been so much positive buzz since last week about the Reformat the Planet chiptune documentary streaming on Pitchfork.tv that the network's producers and the film's director Paul Owens have agreed to grant the doc a bonus life with one more week of free broadcasting. If you missed out last week, now's your chance to experience the magic. If you enjoyed it already, another go might just be what it takes to inspire you to dust off your old Game Boy (I know it did for me).

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Chiptune Friday SPECIAL EDITION: Watch "Reformat the Planet" RIGHT NOW!

Derrick Sanskrit — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 16:01:00 GMT

2 Player Productions' Reformat The Planet is a feature-length documentary about the rising New York City chiptune music scene. The film debuted at the South By Southwest festival a few months ago and has been making the rounds at various other festivals including PAX later this month. Featuring behind-the-scenes interviews and live performances by a large number of musicians, including several featured here on Chiptune Friday, Reformat The Planet is an excellent film and bound to please anybody who is a fan of music, video games, gadgets, counter-culture, or any combination of the above.

And now, our friends at Pitchfork.tv have put the entire film up on their website so you don't even need to leave your web browser. Click here to watch the film right now. You have exactly one week starting today to enjoy it for free, then you'll have to go to a screening or wait for the DVD.

If you still need some convincing, here's a quick clip from the film of Nullsleep setting up just what chip music is:

Interestingly enough, this is the second week in a row that Pitchfork.tv has seen fit to grace us with some chiptune goodness. Might chip music be *gasp* hip? We'll see...

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Chiptune Friday: Little Nemo: The Dream Master PLUS Bonus Music Video!

Derrick Sanskrit — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 16:00:00 GMT

Capcom are responsible for several of the most well established franchises in video game history, but it wasn't too long ago that that they were also known for decidedly non-sucky games based on licensed properties. In 1990, Capcom gave NES owners a new reason think about sleep while they were awake with Little Nemo: The Dream Master, a surprisingly challenging platformer loosely based on the animated film Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland, which itself was loosely based on Winsor McCay's classic Little Nemo in Slumberland comic strips.

In 8-bit Capcom tradition, the game featured lush graphics, vibrant sound, and tight gameplay. Here now, the music from the second "dream" (stage) in the game, Flower Garden, a personal favorite of mine because you got to control both the gorilla and the bee!

As a bonus, you may remember that three weeks ago Chiptune Friday featured the entire album "Tea Parties, Guns and Valor" by Truckasauras. Well, here now the video for that album's first single, "Fak!!":

Thanks to Pitchfork.tv - to whom I am in no way partial - for the clip.

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