This is my first ever music review. I’ve always been generally averse to music , food, and art reviews, but no one reviewed this and it deserves a review so here goes. Please forgive me if i'm too brutal or crude or just wrong; [it's always too easy to be a damn critic]. If you’re reading this review it’s because ninento/chiptunes interest you. This is mind, some backround might be in order. I was born in 1980 and was raised on NES and supermario [sega sucked]. These tunes will take you back to the late 80’s and early 90’s. but the talented artists of this album remix it up to sound a bit modern without losing the essence of a time when gorbachev’s birthmark reminded you of count chocula and not perestroika. The order of the songs was chosen carefully, and that’s apparent if you listen To the whole thing. This album is thoughtfully planned music collaboration. I reviewed the songs during a second listening to the entire album. 1)Kidd Video - "I Need A Quarter" remix of "25 Cents" this one is a bit dark, but it’s a solid song and an excellent album opener, establishing a solid beat that’s a bit dancy, not too fast and kind of makes you want to laugh but also actually want to play contra or another action packed shootem up. A Robotic voice leads repeatedly into demanding for a quarter,wanting ’25 cents more” to “play alone”. This brings me back to the depths of my addiction at the age of about 12, I can feel my thumb burn as i relish in the blistering pain of hitting the a/b buttons as fast as possible for hours. 2) Msx Crew - "Blitz Pixel" remix of "Pixel Addict" shrill lazer beems keep the beat while the bouncy ice breaker like chorus continuous stochato. A nice upbeat major key jumps around a bit pulling in some stachato and some intentional static but mostly just a happy dappy song. This would be the musak of the album if there was any. I want to be in that elevator! 3) Pixelh8 - "Baby Buggy" remix of "Baby Carrier" This will probably wind up in a VW or a macintosh commercial. Put david elsewhere on this. This song has textures. Whatever that means. This is one of my personal favorites of the entire album. That’s all I’m going to say. 4) Makkina - "And I Will Listen" remix of "Speak To Me" this song is as misplaced on this album as super Mario in tetris. Good or no [ personally I say…meh], Please don’t listen to this song. It’s not fair to the rest of the songs on here. 5) Sm@rth - "Creepy Castle" remix of "Castle Freak" intense. This is the boss level. When you get to the boss at the end of a stage and the music sounds like it’s saying, ‘bend over and kiss your ass goodbye’. It’s also got some creaped out vibes. What’s great about this song is that it plays the variations on a theme quite well. Perhaps a bit too predictably at times though. 6) GOTO80- "For N To Equal 80" remix of "Stag 3" tight beats, well executed, and more on the upbeat side, reminds me of midlevel music where everything is going well, you’ve beaten some bad guys and the action goes on hold while you get a screen shot of the characters doing something fun like rocky chasing his fat bicycling trainer coach between knockouts in mike tyson’s knockout. Kind of repetivitive and boring after about 30 seconds. Sorta like punchout. I played punchout once for 3 days str8 with almost no sleep. 7) Stochastic - "Hexidecimalover" remix of "The Binary Walls Between Us" laid back house music. Very nice. Fazes in a little melody. Plays with it. Background changes rapidly and cycles elegantly a few times while the melody holds shit together. This song is a beat playground with satisfying effects. This is a top song on the album. It’s almost out of place at times, but it really feels good. You could listen to this song just on it’s own. 8) HiScore - "Hyper Score" remix of "CX2600" this is more experimental sounding. Not easy to wrap your head on. It’s creative, but I’d stay the hell away from it. The beat is weak and the primary melody is disagreeable. There are some industrial sounding noises and it almost gets ambient and slow too. There is too much in here and transitions are conspicuously absent, much like the lsd jellybean in “a boy and his blob” [trust me I looked everywhere for it] 9) Air Fortress - "I Am Looking For You" remix of "Secret Spacestation" well done. Starts off a bit mysterious and dark and transitions to a peppy melody coming back to a minor melody. This transition goes back and forth. It’s unique on the album in that sense. The minor melody anchors the song while every few other bars the song transitions back to the playful notes. This is decent in the album. Worth listening to , but not tops. 10) Bubblyfish - "Opacity" remix of "Translucent" this is metroid. This is probably the most satanic music in the album. It has a churning beat and high pitched computer sounds in the background following the churning. A base undertone bounces in and out of the song like a shadow army encroaching upon samurai jack as he futilely struggles to beat off the shadows. Great song. 11) Burnkit2600 - "Feel The Burn" remix of "Loafyness" lots of effects. It feels like the effects jolt the beat along. The song is dominated by slow holds of an electric synthesizer. This song one of the lesser songs on the album. 12) Tree Wave - "I Am Someone" remix of "May Banners" queue the voice of ‘max hedroom’, for anyone who remembers that show. The song is actually very relaxed and good, but the voice is really freaking annoying. There are a few parts without the voice which are actually amazing. This might be one of the best songs on the ablum but that voice infuriates me. 13) Aleksi Eeben - "No Point Of Reference" remix of "Space Man Far Away From Home" first off, holy arkanoid! This song is definitely out of place, but definitely the only song on this album that may have been produced by the band Air, whom I like. Bouncing synthesized piano keys sounding like a bach solo piano piece at times. It’s repetitive and calming rather than sad and is excellent lounge music. You could make love to this song. This would have been my most recommended but it’s too far from the theme of chipmusic. This song winds down the ending of the album perfectly. 14) 8 Bit betty - "Immobilizer" remix of "And I Know That You're Happy" it’s like they knew aleksi’s song wasn’t chippy enough and had to put this in as the last song to make sure you walked away remembering that this is Nintendo music. This song is boring. This song is so boringly slow it makes me contemplate how luigi would have felt at the morgue after forgetting to tell Mario that the heroin he gave him needed to be diluted before mainlining it into his inner groin. =========== IN sum this is a very interesting album for an afficionado, something to listen to on your computer while getting some writing done. maybe even some reading. I can't wait for volume 2. "UP UP dd...." select remix volume 1. 4 zevzeev 2006-11-28 06:33:28 2006-11-28 06:33:28 1 4.00