And for my second music post of the day... One Life Left, catchily referred to in its press release as 'Europe's only FM-broadcast videogame radio show', has released its own compilation CD of music inspired by games. Limited to a release of 1000 copies (although 200 have apparently 'gone missing' though knowing this lot it's likely to be an elaborate tax-evasion scam), 'Music to play games by' features 12 artists including Copy, The Doyouinverts, Mark Denardo and Gamesblog favourites, The Lost Levels.
"The OLL compilation is a real collaborative effort between the show, its listeners – who have helped define the tracklist – and some of the finest videogames artists around," says Ste Curran, OLL co-presenter and ex-Edge Magazine staffer. "We're thrilled we've been able to badger, cajole and threaten 12 brilliant artists and bands to provide a track for the album, and pleased we don't have to fulfil our threats to resort to blackmail."
OLL haven't sent me a copy of the CD - the cheap bastards - but I've heard several of these tracks and they're great (though considering my favourite albums of this year were by Crystal Castles, Ladyhawke and M83 you'll have to decide for yourself how much you trust my endorsement). The chiptune scene, becoming rather huge in the States, has yet to really kick off here so this is a sort of robotic lurch in the right direction - though actually, many of these aren't really chiptune, they're sort of chip-indie. Chipindie. Is that a musical sub-genre? It is now!
For those who are interested, here's the tracklisting. Can you suggest anything for 'Music to play games by: volume 2'?
1. Copy - Playered
2. Mark Denardo - Monkey Mountain
3. The Lost Levels - Early Sheets
4. Optimus Rhyme - Obey The Moderator
5. Bracken - Heathens (8-Bit Remix)
6. The Duloks - Red Wizard Needs Food Badly
7. Botnik - Oil Ocean
8. Derek Williams - Let's Play Video Games
9. Frux - Doom and Gloom
10. The Doyouinverts - 7/10
11. Project A-Ko - Materia Girl
12. Kid Carpet - Solitaire Rock
