(Game Music 4 All/hotdogstorm.com)

Round one, fight!

The influence of videogames on music is common enough, whether it’s Nintendo-sounding beats, DJ Green Lantern bringing out an album of songs inspired by Grand Theft Auto or the strings from Silent Hill being ripped off again. Here Comes A New Challenger is a compilation of new videogame-inspired music, a lot of it glitch, chiptune and nerdcore stuff by people you’ve never heard of. Whoremoans uses the princess from Super Mario Bros. as an analogy to rap about a girl who isn’t worth it in Not In This Castle, which will resonate with anyone who ever tired of that “Thank you Mario, but our princess is in another castle” message at the end of every level. Dot. AY contributes a lazer-sharp beat to F-Bombs And 1-Ups, over which Zombies! Organize!! rap about how “You’re bleeding like the printer tray we’ll be feeding.” The beats glitch and crumble into a zombified moan of their own to match that of the vocals by the song’s end. The album’s an mp3-only release and despite all the deluxe blingy packaging that’s supposed to draw consumers back to buying CDs, this has the best cover art I’ve seen so far this year – a jpg of pixellated, eight-bit versions of the producers and vocalists facing off like it’s Street Fighter and everyone’s about to Shoryuken or something.

***½

JODY MACGREGOR

Comments (8)

1. Written by Dot.AY, on 28-05-2008 22:08 WOW!  I didn't expect to see this reviewed by anyone and especially not in my local small-town/city Brisbane    Thanks for finding it

2. Written by leave chiptune outta the press, on 29-05-2008 07:33

3. Written by The Amazing BrandO, on 29-05-2008 11:31   This makes me happy.  I only wish I could have been a part of it.

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