BOTANICULA SOUNDTRACK VINYL SERIES

Through the mid-1980s, Namco came on board with Xevious followed by their compilation album, Namco Video Game Graffiti which featured Dig Dug, Sky Kid, New Rally-X!, Mappy, and more.įrom here flowed a golden age of game music on vinyl. Jump forward to 1983 and you have Do the Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong proper. These even got their own drama albums complete with read-along books that told brief stories from these games. It contained remixes from Circus and Space Invaders and paved the way for other releases through the late 1970s and early 1980s that included lots of Pac-Man, Asteroids, Yars’ Revenge, Missile Command, and others. The limitation, however, and a disclaimer before I launch into this, is that if it’s not in fans’ hands, it’s probably not in the database, so if anything, there’s more music out there on vinyl than VGMdb would indicate.Īccording to VGMdb, however, one of the first instances of game music on vinyl was in 1978 with Yellow Magic Orchestra’s self-titled record. There should be about 8 pages of releases. To take a look for yourself, go into the advanced search, check “game music” and “vinyl,” and hit search. However, VGMdb, a fan-updated resource, is probably your best bet and is what I’m using extensively for this feature. There aren’t a lot of resources, and some of the early stuff was pretty obscure. Now, it’s pretty difficult to explore the history of game music on vinyl.

I guess this also applied to cassette tapes, but cassettes aren’t nearly as cool as vinyl, right? The fact that there’s a finite number of times you can enjoy it, however, adds a sort of rustic charm to the medium. Think of that grainy sound that you associate with vinyl, and that’s what you’re looking at. Additionally, due to the fact that a needle has to be in physical contact with the record to produce sound, over time, the grooves erode and the sound quality is reduced. Due to the optimal spacing of the grooves on the record, you can’t really squeeze more than 20-25 minutes of music per side. In that case (as is the case with most recent vinyl releases), I think the major attraction is that they just look cool, and there’s this romantic notion about a forgotten medium from the past.Ībout those negatives though. However, music written in a digital format (on a computer) is already digitized, so while you might not get that complete analog sound on vinyl, if the music is prepared properly, can still benefit from the medium. Digital files approximate the original sound waves that were generated by the artist, so in a sense, what you hear on a vinyl record is the true, purest sound as if you were hearing it performed live. In terms of benefits, the audio cut into a record is all analog, or, in other words, not digital as you’ll find in compact disc (CD) or, obviously, digital files. They come in different sizes, and can be played at different speeds to produce interesting effects (they can also be played backwards, which some artists used as a neat gimmick to hide things in their music). They’re essentially large discs of wax with grooves cut into either side. Probably when seeing some sort of DJ shenanigans on television.Īnyway, vinyl still, to this day, has some benefits which may be countered by some pretty severe negatives. I remember seeing a turn table on top of my grandfather’s stereo setup, but even having seen the record in my parents’ closet and the turn table at my grandfather’s, I didn’t put two and two together until much later. It was big, bulky, and looked cool, but I had no idea what it was.īeing born in the mid-1980s, the audio cassette tape had largely taken over, so I was enjoying my music on that medium. It had some pretty provocative artwork, which is probably why it was in the closet, and probably why I never asked about it. My first experience with the medium was coming across a copy of Guns ‘N’ Roses’ Use You Illusion and Appetite for Destruction in my parents’ closet. Let’s give a warm welcome back to The Sound Card, and look forward to more coming soon… I’ve already got some top ten lists brewing in my head! This is where it all began, and we’ve recently been seeing a resurgence, so I wanted to delve into this long-forgotten chapter in the history of videogames and show off some release both new and old in some unboxing style videos. What Dale didn’t touch on, however, was game music on vinyl.

BOTANICULA SOUNDTRACK VINYL SERIES

I wanted to bring the series back, and while I just noted that it focused on a lot of lists, the introductory post was an excellent primer to game music, most of which is still applicable today. Dale North started the series many years ago, and while it had a very short run, I was always a fan of the column which featured zany lists that included “ the 8 most f*cked up vocal remixes” and “ the top ten most obnoxious game songs.”

Botanicula soundtrack vinyl