Video Game Music Is Music, Too

In university I wrote a thesis entitled "Video Game Music is Music, Too" on the inherent appeal and marketability of video game soundtracks. I was reminded of that paper today when I bought Portable Disco: 8bit Edition, an album of original dance and electronic tracks featuring prominent use of 8bit waveform generators like the one made popular by recording artists YMCK.

As 8bit waveform generation is the well-tempered clavier of an entire generation of Transformers-watching, Bubble-Tape-chewing NES/Famicom players to which I claim proud membership, it's hard to listen to these tunes and not feel a satisfying rush of pixelated nostalgia. The music, while completely fresh and new, is loaded with enough square, triangle and pulse waves to make your thumbs twitch UP UP DOWN DOWN LEFT RIGHT LEFT RIGHT B A START involuntarily in loving memory of the games whose strident beeps used to make your parents grind their teeth.

Technorati: YMCK, Portable Disco