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Discovering the Vaporwave Sound of CD-i Tetris

Discovering the Vaporwave Sound of CD-i Tetris

While the modern gaming populace is enjoying the conglomeration of Puyo Puyo Tetris, I’ve suddenly found myself crushing pretty hard on regular old Tetris… for the Philips CD-i. The 1992 release for the largely forgotten CD-i was completely off my radar, even as a kid who desperately, foolishly wanted the interactive/edutainment console. It’s all for the best though, I would never have appreciated Jim Andron’s [1] New Age, proto-Vaporware soundtrack when I was deep into Metal, Industrial and Techno.

Having been turned onto it this week by Matt Hawkins over at Attract Mode [2], though, I admit I’m totally in love with this soundtrack. For those not familiar, Vaporware [3] is one of many “microgenres” of electronic music fixated on 80’s/90’s nostalgia. I’ve heard it likened to the sound of corporate training videos, on-hold music or elevator music and the crunchy compression of the source material — despite the shiny 224kbps AAC rip — only adds to the wistful 90’s feel for me.

In video game music terms there’s a lot in here that calls up Wave Race 64 and “Dire Dire Docks” from Super Mario 64. I even get a little vibe of The Sims here and there. But don’t expect a touchy-feely remix of the familiar Tetris theme, “Korobeiniki [4]”, the closest thing to sounding “Russian” is the song from the High Score screen. Aside from that it’s a very consistent sound and quite a long playlist at just over 45 minutes, as you’d hope for a soundtrack that accompanies the potentially endless addiction of Tetris.

Anyways, it’s well worn [5] territory [6] at this point and I’m just doing my part to spread the word on some obscure and unique old game music that’s new to me [7]. You can check out the recording above from MaxOfS2D [8] on YouTube or see the game in action here [9]; CD-i Tetris conveniently had no sound effects so every recording puts a focus on the music.

While you’re down here, let us know your favorite Tetris (or Tetris derivative) soundtrack in the comments. CD-i Tetris has jumped pretty high on my list but the top is still reserved for The New Tetris on Nintendo 64.

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#1 Comment By Matt Hawkins On April 28, 2017 @ 10:29 am

So glad you dig it! And yeah… have been listening to it non-stop all week…

#2 Comment By Ryan Paquet On April 28, 2017 @ 11:11 am

Wow. This was completely off my radar and just gave it a quick sample listen – it reminds me of a late 80’s early 90’s film score. Even got some Big Blue Eric Serra vibes. I will give it a proper listen soon.

Gameboy Tetris will always be my definitive Tetris OST. After that it’s Sega Dreamcast’s The Next Tetris due to hours University day multiplayer sessions. Here’s one example:

[10]

Uh-oh…might be stuck listening to this for a while!

#3 Comment By Joe Hilgard On April 28, 2017 @ 3:25 pm

I can’t believe how much this sounds like James Ferraro’s “Far Side Virtual”… very powerful.

#4 Comment By Jim Andron On June 13, 2017 @ 10:48 pm

Thanks for the kind words, Matt! Enjoy!

#5 Comment By Jim Andron On June 13, 2017 @ 11:01 pm

And Shawn, thank you for the review. I must admit I didn’t know I was writing vaporware. I always really liked this soundtrack, because it was the closest to my musical wheelhouse.