It’s said in the about page of this website that chiptunes is one of the genres to be talked about within these virtual pages. Sadly, I think it’s been about 2 years since any such mutterings have happened. To rectify that, I went poking around the recesses of my mp3 collection and found a lovely little fraction of a cover of The Beach Boys’ ‘Wouldn’t It Be Nice’ by Anamanaguchi. Though only about 30 seconds, it’s a pitch perfect chiptune rendition of a radio staple. If you do a little research on the band, you’ll see that their love of Brian Wilson & Co. is much publicized.

ANAMANAGUCHI – WOULDN’T IT BE NICE (BEACH BOYS COVER)

Though barely a full cover, I think that’s how it got released ages ago. The band’s 8bit Collective page back in 2005, but the mp3 has been lost in the stratosphere. I’m pretty certain this is where I grabbed it from back in the day. More recently, they posted up a cover of a track by sunshine and bong-hits So Cal noise punks Wavves track ‘So Bored’. Their rendition keeps the forward propulsion and adds the chiptune sheen that is a trademark of all their songs. Definitely recommended.

ANAMANAGUCHI – SO BORED (WAVVES COVER)

Anamanaguchi is also in the habit of giving bits of their music away to the fans. You can find the above track and a bunch more over at their 8bit Collective page.

This summer, the band has also gotten together a free singles program. Every two weeks they’ve been releasing a new free A & B side download. They’re off recording their next album, but awesomely finding the time to release tidbits of interstellar chip-rock to brighten our summer. Each single comes with original art and the psychokinetic gif above (from the first week’s single Airbrushed) features the work of Paul Roberston.

Robertson is an amazing animator and illustrator who specializes in the 16-bit retro style. Some of his amazing early shorts include Kings of Power 4billion% and my favorite Pirate Baby’s Cabana Battle Street Fight 2006. Go watch the shit out of those before even finishing this post. Most recently, Robertson was lead animator on theon the PSN/XBOX Live game adaptation of the (should have been a hit) film Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World. He was even nice enough to release some sprites from the game on his blog.

In possibly one of the best pairings since peanut butter and bacon, the game was scored by Anamanaguchi. Though they’re tossing about the word ‘flop’ in regards to the movie, reception of the game has been exceptionally positive and the score is a big part of that.

The Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World video game soundtrack was released on August 24, 2010 via ABKCO Records. You can purchase it digitally from iTunes.

Record Makers has brought us a fantastic remix of French house duo Acid Washed’s self titled track. It’s a great bit of sci-fi styled, harpsichord driven space electro. The remix is off the forthcoming single, to be released by Record Makers on September 17th. Accompanying the Danger remix there will be additional remixes from The Hacker, Daniel Haaksman and Mickey Moonlight.

ACID WASHED – ACID WASHED (DANGER REMIX)

While not necessarily new, as it launched in April of 2009, We Are Hunted a recent discovery of mine. It functions similarly to Elbows and Hype Machine, but chooses to do so in a more pleasing visual style. It’s all well coded and quite self contained, clicking on links brings up a player that will not interrupt your further exploration of the site.

It’s not entirely clear where they pull their stats, it does present an interesting mix of new and interesting music. In the copy on the site, it says that they aggregate via “blogs, social networks, forums, P2P networks and Spotify” (the latter being the only thing that can make someone in the US feel the frustrations of potential Hulu users in the UK). Supposedly, there’s some proprietary “clustering algorithms” going on behind the scenes. Either way, what is provided is a great variety that can I’ve found myself leaving on as background music.

You can add your blog should you be someone with content to share, but I have come across a few issues in adding this lovely site. I’m thinking it could be an issue with FeedBurner RSS feeds…maybe someone from We Are Hunted could look into that. *wink wink*

Regardless, from an end user experience, We Are Hunted is good way to explore the new.

An idea so simple and eloquent only the internet could have created it: Photoshop tacos onto your favorite album covers. Like vinyl face meme but better…because, you know…tacos.

[Album Tacos]

Eclectic Method has released their new homage to the best of 80’s and 90’s pixel beats. The accompanying video is badass, a stroll down Contra Lane populated by the ghosts of the classic Sega and Nintendo greats. I love the addition of a Mega Man-ified Blanka. For no reason but awesomeness, here’s a pic of the whole cast of Street Fighter in Mega Man style.

Take a look at The Creators Project Blog to read a full interview with Jonny Wilson & Ian Edgar about the track, their VJ’ing process and what’s up next for the group.