Game Boy

Chip Music, Featured, Reviews

Return of the Zen Albatross: SIGINT (Review)

January 13, 2016 | Patrick Gann | 1 Comment Share this

The ZEN ALBATROSS is different from your average albatross. You see, the ancient mariner has nothin’ on him. Nor do invasive government spy agencies. Confused yet? You need to get to know ZEN ALBATROSS then. This bird is a master of cryptography, and he is also good at dodging the slings and arrows of would-be seafaring jerk wads.

My single favorite chip music album from 2010 was a double-single featuring “Mastada Gestalt” and “April 10,” both songs by ZEN ALBATROSS. Since then, we’ve heard precious little from him. Now he’s back with a new EP (almost 30 minutes long), which you can get digitally or on cassette tape via the artist’s Bandcamp page.

This new EP, “SIGINT,” is a head trip from start to finish. Interested in the finer details? Keep on reading… (more…)
Chip Music, Featured, Indie Music, Reviews

Chipzel’s Dance Floor Domination: Spectra (Review)

February 17, 2014 | Patrick Gann | Comments Off on Chipzel’s Dance Floor Domination: Spectra (Review) Share this

There are plenty of chip music makers out there these days. I have respect for all of them — it’s difficult work, to be sure. But one person I especially admire is Chipzel. She broke onto the scene when she wrote the three-track OST for Super Hexagon. But she has plenty of original works out there too.

The latest among them is Spectra, released in September 2013. This full-length album was created entirely in LSDJ, so it’s pure Game Boy goodness. The nature of this album? I think the headline gives it away, but if you want a detailed report, as well as where you can pick up the album, keep reading!

(more…)
Chip Music, Featured, Game Music

Soundtrack of the Month 02/2011: Tower of Heaven

February 2, 2011 | Patrick Gann | 6 Comments Share this

Within the same day, I had one friend demand I play “this crazy-hard Flash platformer,” and another friend tell me I had to pick up this “crazy-awesome soundtrack.” Both friends were referring to Tower of Heaven.

The game itself is indeed quite challenging. I recommend you play it (at Newgrounds or Kongregate). It fully fits the “Game Boy” feel, all the way down to the color palette (green-ish and black) and the chiptune-centric soundtrack.

The whole soundtrack runs at under 20 minutes and is available for a mere one US Dollar on bandcamp. The OSV staff thought it was über enough to win an award for Indie Game OST in our recent OSVOSTOTY 2010 post. We acknowledge the album’s brevity, which is why it’s getting SotM for the shortest month of the year, February.

After the jump, a detailed report of this addictive little soundtrack, and what makes it so addictive, awaits. (more…)
Chip Music

Game Boy Rock!! Special Edition Now Available

September 10, 2010 | Audun Sorlie | Comments Off on Game Boy Rock!! Special Edition Now Available Share this

Last year I was swooned and smitten by this little chiptune EP made with the humble little Game Boy by a bulgy big boy. Game Boy Rock!! was an excellent showcase of Wizwars’s unique and highly danceable tunes that ravers and lovers alike could create romance with, and now it’s back in an all new edition.

Game Boy Rock!! Special Edition comes with 3 new tracks and a DVD case modeled after the Game Boy casing. So no matter what way you shake or twist this baby, it’ll look just like the gray plucker we all love and cherish. The CD is limited to 40 copies and is sure to be a good gift for yourself, your loved ones or your next door neighbor, so buy it today.

Oh I forgot to mention, I made the artwork. /End of shameless plug

Available At: Kunaki
Game Music, Reviews

A Huge Battleship is Approaching Fast: SAGAIA (Review)

March 17, 2010 | Michael Cox | 5 Comments Share this

Taito’s Darius series (of which Sagaia is a part) has always been regarded by the wider gaming public as somehow lagging behind the other big-name horizontal shooting series. As a steadfast supporter of the games, I’ve long thought of this as a disheartening and near-criminal injustice, but to be perfectly honest, the popular view is all too understandable. The first two Darius titles relied on their innovative triple-screen displays and their GIGANTIC SPACE FISH to impress arcade-goers in the late 80s, and upon revisiting them today, most players find them to be rather staid and sedate affairs with unadventurous whack-a-mole level design. It took 1994’s Darius Gaiden and 1997’s G-Darius to really prove the worth of the series to most shoot-em-up aficionados, but they certainly didn’t lay to rest the ghosts of its reputation. The truly disheartening thing about the relative unpopularity of the original games, though, is that it’s meant that scant few people have been exposed to the wonders of their music.

It seems Taito understand this well enough, as they’ve been busy releasing a slew of the Darius soundtrack and remix CDs on the iTunes service, with the soundtrack to the Game Boy version of Sagaia being among the most recent. But is this release likely to win the series any new fans?

Click the jump to find out! (more…)
Chip Music

Ancient Technology For Cheap Dinosaurs Music Video

February 22, 2010 | Audun Sorlie | 1 Comment Share this

Cheap Dinosaurs recently won my choice for best chip music album of 2009, and for very good reason. Dino and Bucky, the 2 bad dudes behind the glorious music keeps putting on the most awesome shows and ideas out there, be it as Cheap Dinosaurs doing original songs or as Auto-Scroll doing game arrangements.

Recently they released a music video for the song “Tagalog” from the Cheap Dinosaurs CD. The video is entirely shot by LJ Frezza with the Game Boy Camera which came out in 1998 for the original Game Boy. To do this they inserted the camera cartridge into a Super Game Boy and ran the feed from the SNES into a computer. Pretty awesome results!

I wish I had the creativity to think of these things when I was younger. The only thing I used my Game Boy Camera for was taking pictures of my most private areas and using them as the face for the bosses in Space Fever II which was featured on the cartridge. And with that I think I already said too much.
Chip Music

The Good, The Bad & The Game Boy: Glomag’s New Album + Live Blip Fest Recordings

January 15, 2010 | Joshua Kopstein | 3 Comments Share this

New York’s Blip Festival, the world’s largest and most esteemed chip music event, may have already saddled up and rode into the sunset, but chiptune auteur Chris Burke (aka Glomag) has made sure that fans will find plenty glittering audible gold in the cold months that follow. His newest album, Roland & The Lamprey, which begins with a Game Boy and guitar cover of Ennio Morricone’s famous Spaghetti Western diddy, “Ecstasy of Gold,” was released as a free download on chiptunes netlabel 8bitpeoples following the festival’s conclusion in December. From the undeniably infectious beats of “Ice Me Nine” and “Disco Nostromo” to the dark and catchy discord of “Bad Therapy,” Glomag’s latest offering fuses high energy fist-pumping anthems with complex and stylish vocal pop.

And just in case you missed seeing him live at Blip Fest, you can now also download recordings of Glomag’s entire live set, courtesy of the Free Music Archive. With this and even more solid stuff on the way, I’d say that chip music is off to pretty good start in 2010, wouldn’t you? Have a listen after the jump. (more…)