Delayed Reaction: On Ben Landis
28 December, 2012
My original intention was to feature three recent bands in this article. However, the hour grows late, and this write-up stretched out longer than I thought it would. So, here's my piece on Ben Landis:
A few (or many?) months back, I noted a quirky-looking album that some other artist had recommended: "Adventures In Pixels, by Ben Landis: An Illustrated Album of Chiptune Music." As an avid old-school gamer myself, I was naturally intrigued; however, for some reason or another, I shelved it in my favorites to return to later. A few weeks later, however, who should begin following me on Twitter but - Ben Landis! Thus, under the circumstances, I felt compelled to download Adventures in Pixels at once. A quality buy for 5 bucks - anyone with fond memories of old NES tunage should certainly snap this up at once.
Even if you're not, though, no worries - check it out anyway. Besides, it's not entirely chip-based - punchy drums (which I assume are automated) often drive the chirpy melodies, and other instruments add almost a 32-bit flavor at times (especially the lovely acoustic, violin-drenched "High Stakes", and the driving "Final Words" that follows). The album tells the story - both via the music and the thumbnails of each mp3 - of Matt, a brave young soul whose chickens are woefully abducted by the cruel King Aquabak and his horde of savage dinosaurs. In the spirit of the medium, tracks are usually brief, with names that suggest where each tune fits within the comic, such as "Mountain", "Castle", or, my favorite, "The Scripted Battle". As a gamer/listener, it's so rewarding to dig into these tunes and just feel how well those tunes fall into their designated places.
Perhaps the only downside to Adventures in Pixels is that, where actual video game music generally loops until the player advances to another level, Landis actually wrote in endings for all his tracks. And, while this works for the shorter tunes (i.e anything under two minutes) and "End Credits For An 8-Bit RPG", the longer tracks that would have been level tunes seem to end rather abruptly. That's only a slight misgiving, however.
As an added bonus, two fabulous "live" tracks are added to the end of the album, orchestrated versions of "Matt's Theme" and, my personal favorite among the other chiptunes, "Frontier". Oh, man. "Frontier (Live)" is breathtaking. That track alone is worth $5.
A few (or many?) months back, I noted a quirky-looking album that some other artist had recommended: "Adventures In Pixels, by Ben Landis: An Illustrated Album of Chiptune Music." As an avid old-school gamer myself, I was naturally intrigued; however, for some reason or another, I shelved it in my favorites to return to later. A few weeks later, however, who should begin following me on Twitter but - Ben Landis! Thus, under the circumstances, I felt compelled to download Adventures in Pixels at once. A quality buy for 5 bucks - anyone with fond memories of old NES tunage should certainly snap this up at once.
Even if you're not, though, no worries - check it out anyway. Besides, it's not entirely chip-based - punchy drums (which I assume are automated) often drive the chirpy melodies, and other instruments add almost a 32-bit flavor at times (especially the lovely acoustic, violin-drenched "High Stakes", and the driving "Final Words" that follows). The album tells the story - both via the music and the thumbnails of each mp3 - of Matt, a brave young soul whose chickens are woefully abducted by the cruel King Aquabak and his horde of savage dinosaurs. In the spirit of the medium, tracks are usually brief, with names that suggest where each tune fits within the comic, such as "Mountain", "Castle", or, my favorite, "The Scripted Battle". As a gamer/listener, it's so rewarding to dig into these tunes and just feel how well those tunes fall into their designated places.
Perhaps the only downside to Adventures in Pixels is that, where actual video game music generally loops until the player advances to another level, Landis actually wrote in endings for all his tracks. And, while this works for the shorter tunes (i.e anything under two minutes) and "End Credits For An 8-Bit RPG", the longer tracks that would have been level tunes seem to end rather abruptly. That's only a slight misgiving, however.
As an added bonus, two fabulous "live" tracks are added to the end of the album, orchestrated versions of "Matt's Theme" and, my personal favorite among the other chiptunes, "Frontier". Oh, man. "Frontier (Live)" is breathtaking. That track alone is worth $5.