Pieces of 8-bit

We all loved playing video games as kids, hence the name Street Writer.. I have a ps2 but don't play it much, and I've still got my Snes from back in the day but I don't play it at all, mainly because I don't have time to but also I have emualtors for a lot of the old consoles on my mac, so when I do get the time I can play them on here. Not the same though really. I could play Street Fighter, GoldenEye, Mario Kart and Pro Evo all day though, no matter how busy I am. I do still take an interest in video game music.. I played in Manchester earlier this month at a rave called 'Monday Murkage' (hold tight David Lewis, big boy promoter-500 students out on a Monday night areyoudumb?) so the next day I went down to Picadilly Records on Oldham St and found this gem:

It's got a lot of the old intro sounds for game makers like Konami, Acclaim, Capcom etc and a heavy section of GTA San Andreas dialogue which is too jokes.

The first tune I can ever remember is this, this game got completely rinsed! Probably the first game I completed.

SUPER MARIO LAND 3 : WORLD 1



The best tune ever made on 8-bit for a video game has to be the intro theme from Streets Of Rage 2.

STREETS OF RAGE 2 INTRO



My first encounter with this music outside of it's original context was probably the 1999 New York anthem 'Super Brooklyn', which straight samples Super Mario. It was a groundbreaking idea at the time to rap over a computer game sample, it never got officially released because the sample was unable to clear.

COCOA BROVAS - SUPER BROOKLYN



Then a few years later, around 2005 my mate Alex Bok Bok played me a song which got me into a lot of new music, and again it was the 8-bit synth samples that grabbed my attention. It was actually the first Diplo record I bought. I got it on white label prior to it's release, that just has a stamp of a diplodocus on the label and 'DIPLO' written in the tiniest letters in biro on the other side. To me it’s like Miami Bass passed through a mega drive in Brazil then sent to Jamaica to be finished.

DIPLO FT. SANDRA MELODY & VYBZ KARTEL - DIPLO RHYTHM



About a year ago, dub virus infecta Kode 9 put out a real head-turning release on his Hyperdub label from Japanese gameboy musician Quarta 330. it featured an 8-bit remix of Kode 9's classic '9 Samurai' and this crazy dub tune made on Nanoloop. This probably came out around the same time as 50 Cent & Justin Timberlake's 'Ayo Technology' which is a good example of 8-bit filtering into pop music.

QUARTA 330 - SUNSET DUB



More recently RAMP Recordings have put out a sick 12" from Zomby. Side A is 'Liquid Dancehall' but it's really, as usual with a lot of UKG records, all about the B-side.

ZOMBY - STRANGE FRUIT



This style is getting more popular, I'm hearing it a lot in new music, it definately evokes nostalgia, but at the same time sounds good in a new way. All about the 8-bit!