I like physical media… okay? Are you really surprised this is a new rabbit hole I’m going down.
Read more about my newest hobbyMy Top Music 2020
Man, a lot of people use Spotify. Until they allow me to upload my own music (like Apple Music does) it’s never meant to be. You can’t play the Donkey Kong Land soundtrack on Spotify.
(And before someone busts in here telling me about the local files option… yeah I know, it’s dumb. I’m talkin’ cloud music library baby.)
My top albums/artists/songs for 2020 include:
- Zelda and Chill II – Mikel
- Zelda Dark Side of the Triforce – Epic Game Music
- The Donkey Kong Land OST
- Playing With The Boys – Kenny Loggins
- Carrisa – Desert Star
- River City Girls OST
- ZeroRanger OST
- Blinding Lights – The Weeknd
- Tetris Effect OST
- Hamilton
You guys are sleeping on that Donkey Kong Land soundtrack… just sayin’
Endless Jingling
Endless Jingling was written and recorded by Josh Millard. It selects a handful of christmas songs at random from a collection of three dozen recordings, then jumps around randomly between them forever and ever and ever or until you reload for a new combination of songs.
This is both easy to listen to and disconcerting simultaneously.
Auditory Creative Endeavors
I dislike Winter very much. I never have inspiration to do anything creative even though I’m indoors for most of the season. Now cut to Spring, my favorite season, and the choice season for critics alike1. I’ve felt reinvigorated to start some new things and start creating. So I have.
Podcasting
Shawn and I have started a new podcast called Sines, Co-Sines, and Tangents.
The joke is his name is Shawn Sines, and I’m his co-host, and we talk about all kinds of things that devolve into many tangents. Now that I’ve explained it, the title is now 300% more hilarious.2
It’s great to be back to podcasting, and to talk about video games with someone who appreciates them like I do yet has a completely different take. I love the democracy of podcasting much like the open web. We aren’t subject to YouTube ads , algorithms, proprietary formats or delivery. People can use whatever app they want and we own our content and deliver it directly. It may take longer for people to find it but it’s a principle I stand behind.3 4
I also love the technology behind our setup and making a good sounding podcast without a lot of post production. 5
Music
I’ve been getting back to making music. It’s not something I’m terribly good at, but I enjoy it nonetheless. I got inspired last year near vacation time. I haven’t made anything I’m very happy with to publish on the internet yet. But it’s something I’m continuing to do to stay creative. I’ve made several musical equivalents of writing on the piece of paper and throwing it in the trash bin.
In the process I’ve learned more and more about synthesizers. If there’s an instrument I identify with, it’s the synth6. A mix of technology and music.
Making music has reminded me when I started with photography. I wasn’t amazing when I started taking photos, but with years of experience and understanding the tools I had, experimenting, I’ve reached a point where I’m happy with it. For music I have been using a MIDI keyboard and my iPad with several different synth apps, and sequencers. Some might dismiss this as not “real” music. That opinion disheartens me. I grew up with electronic music by way of video games. In many instances the creators of music in video games were simultaneously programmers and musicians, writing the music in code. I read an article on Bandcamp about all these amazing genres of obscure music and it was enlightening. There’s room for everyone and taste in music is subjective. I will continue to learn and experiment, and maybe I’ll have something to share with the world in the near future.
- “Mother Nature raves ‘this season has really started to grow on me. 5/5 it’s a mastapeece'” – The Columbus Gazette March 20th 2017 ↩
- The next time a friend doesn’t understand a joke, make sure to explain to them why it’s funny in several different ways. They will appreciate it. ↩
- I intend on writing more about the Open Web and how it’s dying soon. ↩
- Look, I’ve gone off on a tangent. ↩
- There are still a few kinks to work out as I write this. ↩
- If you haven’t watched the Lords of Synth yet, you’re missing out. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXgNo5Smino ↩
Music Select
In today’s age of the remix, some artists are putting their own touches and takes on some familiar classic works. No, not Shakespeare, but rather the classics of our generation: video games.
There are a ton of covers out there for video game music and plenty of awesome sites like OC Remix to find them. But few actually expand on those pieces and make them into something bigger and better.
I’ve recently come across two albums that have struck my fancy.
The first album that I can’t stop listening to is History Repeating: Blue from The Megas, a Mega Man cover band. This album is based on the music from Mega Man 3. Each track is from the perspective of either Mega Man or one of the Robot Masters. The Megas take each track and take elements of each stage song, and work it into something more lyrical and dynamic, and it works better than any other Mega Man cover I’ve heard. The first two tracks are especially awesome as part one leads into the title theme for part two. If you like Mega Man, you can’t miss this album.
The second album I recently discovered is Metroid Cinematica by Sam Dillard. This album takes tracks spanning nearly all of the Metroid games and weaves them into an epic film score. It reprises motifs and mixes tracks from all the games into an cinematic tale. It really makes me wish that Nintendo would evolve Metroid into the sci-fi universe it wants to be. It’s sad that Metroid Other M was meant to expand and build Samus’ character. This album does that more than that game ever will. Listen to this, and close your eyes. Imagine the Metroid movie that will never be.
That’s all from me. Let me know in the comments if you like the albums, and throw some money at these artists who truly love and appreciate the originals as you can hear it in their hard work.
Working on an Album
So a while back, I got this crazy idea that I was going to make an album. An album of chiptune music that I composed using Korg-DS10 and WarioWare DIY on DS or on my iPad.
I’ve currently made three tracks that I’m happy with. Their mostly what I call the “chase music” genre. These are certainly just the beginning. I haven’t composed anything in a while. This is mostly just a personal project, but I’d appreciate to hear what you think.
Crusin’
Time Choppin’
I imagined if Time Chopper was a video game. This would be from the first level… obviously:
Cut ‘Em Off at the Pass
Shower Time With Clark Kent
Hello there. It been a while since there has been a post here. And I think we can all admit that Blog A Day failed.
Anyhow, with the help of some friends we made a new video. Check it out.
Shower Time With Clark Kent from Jared Cherup on Vimeo.