posted 09/16/2008 (Tue) @ 04:36 pm
>>> Music Reviews
she - Pioneer (2006) [FREE MUSIC]
Hard Reset
- Nebula
- Yeah2 Beats
- Pioneer
- Dusk
- Session
- Streets
- Twilight
There’s something about modern electronica… or rather, there’s just nothing to it. It’s always that same damn tired 808 pounding like a robot’s heartbeat as it bores its way inside the ear canal. Emphasis on bore. If you aren’t strung out on heavy drugs, it’s unlistenable.
As it is with video gaming, “modern” music just doesn’t do it for me. Pac-Man inspired too way too many candy ravers, and by extension, way too many overdoses on X.
But no one complained about the quality of the music jumping from mushroom to mushroom in Super Mario. Far from it. Because the music was awesome.
The best music is often produced whilst working under tremendous limitation; in composing for the Super Nintendo, pure white noise became sculptor’s clay for the “drums” channel. A mere three other lo-fi slots existed for “instruments” crafted of simplistic sine and square waves. Music composition was no cakewalk before Cakewalk, Reason, Fruityloops. You hear the meeting of equal parts ambition, creativity, and talent when you play Mario.
Composed with the aid of modern tools and a Nintendo Gameboy as the sound source, she’s Pioneer is retro in the best way. Everything hopeless video game geeks like me loved about Mario and Sonic’s soundtracks—the pure, unadulterated, infantile pleasure of old school video game tunes—is resuscitated on Pioneer. “Nebula,” possibly she’s best tune, is also one of the best knock-your-socks-off openers ever: it revvs up and explodes like a Velcro-synth-bass supernova, and touts some of the sweetest portamento-sweetened riffage since Necros wrote “Click.”
Although the ensuing six tracks simply can’t match up to the pure energy of “Nebula,” the album continues on the path. The other highlight is the dark and jagged Neuromancer balladry of the closer, “Twilight”—but every track here shines, from the bouncy “Yeah Yeah Beats” to the bus ride waltz “Streets.” Disappointment comes only at Pioneer’s brevity, and at the fact that she’s subsequent recordings devolve into more modern techno affectation at times.
Pioneer is an 8-Bit Peoples release. (Fans of “ancient” computer music and/or video game console composers would do well to check out this “record label”–enough completely free, 8-bit inspired tuneage to keep you bobbing and dodging sprite baddies in your head for weeks.)
Links
Download Pioneer here (MP3, 192kbps)
Official site
Myspace
she - Nebula
And for your further review, the title track from she’s latest, 2008’s electro-funky Coloris:
Tags: bitpop, chiptune, electro, electronica, rock, video game music
1 comment on this article
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Three Star Smash » Archives » she - Coloris (2008) [FREE MUSIC] Says:
November 18th, 2008 at 1:42 am[...] the more low-key side of electronica from she, Coloris marks a return to the anthemic immediacy of Pioneer. While the bitpop of she’s debut, a seamless fusion of Gameboy and laptop, is of a decidedly [...]
