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Ploink. Bleep. Plonk. That’s what video game music used to sound like. Last week in this space, we learned the genre has advanced far beyond the days when primitive computer sound chips constrained video game soundtrack composers to simple monophonic loops. Nowadays, the scores by which gamers score can rival those of motion pictures in complexity and musical depth.
But the music of early video games, despite its drastic limitations, had its fans ... and some of the children who grew up on the truncated harmonic lexicons of pioneering games like “Tetris” and “Super Mario Bros.” have, as adult musicians, dedicated themselves to keeping the unique sound of ’80s video games alive. In fact, at least two pop subgenres born in a nostalgia for the “ploink bleep plonk” of old-school video games have developed in recent years: chiptune and bitpop.
Chiptune is a category of electronica in which musicians create music either using the relatively ancient sound chips of early video game consoles or recreating their sounds with more sophisticated technology. Some respected chiptune composers actually wrote for the games that inspired the movement, like Kaji Kondo (of “Super Mario Bros.” and “The Legend of Zelda” fame) and Ben Daglish, the British composer who drafted the scores for “Gauntlet” on the Commodore 64 and “Deflektor” on the Commodore Amiga. (The C64 and the Amiga — long-extinct dinosaurs of the antediluvian personal computer world — are still the two most popular platforms among chiptune aficionados.) Others, like Matthew Applegate (who records under the nom de plume of Pixelh8), are second-generation chiptune artists, reverse engineering the minimalist synth honks of the games they played during childhood.
The distinction between chiptune and bitpop is sometimes fuzzy, but most musicologists consider the latter to be a less purist subcategory of the former. Bitpop musicians often utilize the sounds of old game consoles, but they’re just as apt to combine them with other musical instruments and more modern software. Some bitpop acts, like Press Play on Tape, the OneUps and the Minibosses, interpret the songs of old video games with traditional pop instrumentation.
Other bitpop bands do just the opposite. The Japanese act OMODAKA executes a chiptune take on Bach’s “Cantata No. 147” on their album of the same name. Denver’s Mr. Pacman includes an 8-bit cover of Madonna’s “Papa Don’t Preach” in their setlist. And last year, Astralwerks released a compilation album called “8-Bit Operators” that included well-regarded bitpop performers like Bit Shifter and Nullsleep covering the songs of German synth pioneers Kraftwerk.
Although the rise of bitpop and chiptune can be partly attributed to the nostalgia of the Nintendo generation, it also highlights the importance of constraint in the fostering of creativity. Just as the limitations of a low budget have sometimes contributed to great filmmaking, so too did the technological strictures imposed upon early video game composers and producers drive their ingenuity and musical legerdemain. All great artists — bitpop or otherwise — recognize that sometimes the creative mind can only be freed by placing it under tight restraints. As Helen Keller — who knew something about the subject of limits — wrote: “The marvelous richness of human experience would lose something of rewarding joy if there were no limitations to overcome.”
<i>Notes is supported by the Gay & Lesbian Fund for Colorado, promoting the success of after-school programs throughout Colorado in cooperation with the Boys & Girls Clubs of America. Notes can be heard daily on KAFM 88.1 or at kafmradio.org on the Web.</i>
But the music of early video games, despite its drastic limitations, had its fans ... and some of the children who grew up on the truncated harmonic lexicons of pioneering games like “Tetris” and “Super Mario Bros.” have, as adult musicians, dedicated themselves to keeping the unique sound of ’80s video games alive. In fact, at least two pop subgenres born in a nostalgia for the “ploink bleep plonk” of old-school video games have developed in recent years: chiptune and bitpop.
Chiptune is a category of electronica in which musicians create music either using the relatively ancient sound chips of early video game consoles or recreating their sounds with more sophisticated technology. Some respected chiptune composers actually wrote for the games that inspired the movement, like Kaji Kondo (of “Super Mario Bros.” and “The Legend of Zelda” fame) and Ben Daglish, the British composer who drafted the scores for “Gauntlet” on the Commodore 64 and “Deflektor” on the Commodore Amiga. (The C64 and the Amiga — long-extinct dinosaurs of the antediluvian personal computer world — are still the two most popular platforms among chiptune aficionados.) Others, like Matthew Applegate (who records under the nom de plume of Pixelh8), are second-generation chiptune artists, reverse engineering the minimalist synth honks of the games they played during childhood.
The distinction between chiptune and bitpop is sometimes fuzzy, but most musicologists consider the latter to be a less purist subcategory of the former. Bitpop musicians often utilize the sounds of old game consoles, but they’re just as apt to combine them with other musical instruments and more modern software. Some bitpop acts, like Press Play on Tape, the OneUps and the Minibosses, interpret the songs of old video games with traditional pop instrumentation.
Other bitpop bands do just the opposite. The Japanese act OMODAKA executes a chiptune take on Bach’s “Cantata No. 147” on their album of the same name. Denver’s Mr. Pacman includes an 8-bit cover of Madonna’s “Papa Don’t Preach” in their setlist. And last year, Astralwerks released a compilation album called “8-Bit Operators” that included well-regarded bitpop performers like Bit Shifter and Nullsleep covering the songs of German synth pioneers Kraftwerk.
Although the rise of bitpop and chiptune can be partly attributed to the nostalgia of the Nintendo generation, it also highlights the importance of constraint in the fostering of creativity. Just as the limitations of a low budget have sometimes contributed to great filmmaking, so too did the technological strictures imposed upon early video game composers and producers drive their ingenuity and musical legerdemain. All great artists — bitpop or otherwise — recognize that sometimes the creative mind can only be freed by placing it under tight restraints. As Helen Keller — who knew something about the subject of limits — wrote: “The marvelous richness of human experience would lose something of rewarding joy if there were no limitations to overcome.”
<i>Notes is supported by the Gay & Lesbian Fund for Colorado, promoting the success of after-school programs throughout Colorado in cooperation with the Boys & Girls Clubs of America. Notes can be heard daily on KAFM 88.1 or at kafmradio.org on the Web.</i>
