In August ’24, ‘lange nicht gehört.’ is focusing on music from digital games. Videogame music, or VGM for short. Whether synthetic sounds from early arcade machines, orchestral titles or the ambient soundscapes from a distant world. The sub-theme is as diverse as music itself. Each of the weekly episodes will take a different approach to music in games. 🕹️🎶
Chiptune. Maybe it’s an age thing, but for many, when asked about video games, the first sound that comes to mind is the bleeping and bloping of something like Super Mario. In fact, the chip-based sound of early computers and consoles is very memorable. And sometimes also annoying. Born out of necessity due to the technical limitations of the 80s and early 90s, music with the characteristic synthetic sound is now a genre in its own right. There are numerous demakes of well-known albums on the internet, nostalgic playlists of the best Mario and Zelda songs from early childhood. But brand new games also rely on this time-honored style, both in terms of graphics and sound. Last but not least, songs from the arcades show just how special a well-composed song can sound on limited technology. On the one hand, the technology used there was of a much higher quality than in comparable home devices, but the necessary attention was also paid to the soundtrack. Many development studios had their own in-house composers to make their games stand out from the cacophony of the huge halls. Sega’s Hiroshi Kawaguchi at the beginning of the episode should be mentioned here. The Bosa Nova sounds from the racing game Out Run (1986) make you feel the Pacific sun, while the riffs from Afterburner II (1987) suggest that the movie Top Gun from the previous year was still very present. Which leaves me wondering: was Hiro a composer? Musician, developer or computer technician? I haven’t yet traced the development of music from paper to chip to the end.
Sendedatum: 14/08/2024 22:00 - 14/08/2024 23:00
Sprache: without Speech
Sendung: lange nicht gehört.
Tracklist:Outrun (Hiroshi Kawaguchi)
Afterburner (Hiroshi Kawaguchi)
Space Harrier (Hiroshi Kawaguchi) [2x]
Afterburner (Hiroshi Kawaguchi)
Outrun (Hiroshi Kawaguchi)
Streets Of Rage 2 Yuzo (Koshiro)
Mother 2 (Keiichi Suzuki & Hirokazu Tanaka)
Castlevania: Curse Of The Moon (v.a.)
Actraiser (Yuzo Koshiro)
The Messenger (Raindbowdragoneyes)
Bit.Trip (bitshifter or nullsleep)
The Fantastic Adventures of Dizzy (Matt Gray)
Loop Hero (Blinch)
Zelda - Link To The Past [cover] (Koji Kondo)
Secret Of Mana [cover] (Hiroki Kikuta)