8-bit music, Cubism, The Composer of 4'33", and Worship

Over the years, I've been sharing with people my fascination with video game music and particularly that of the 8-bit kind. Sometimes this is met with extreme fandom and references to every song ever created before 1992 on a video game console, a conversation I find myself almost cringing at when it moves beyond a healthy appreciation. More often than not, however, I am met with the equivalent to the pat on the head like I'm 8 years old and playing with action figures, making a treasure map for a make believe backyard adventure, or telling a story of something I saw on Nick Jr.

I'm passionate about the worship of the God of the Bible. His name is Jesus. I love him a lot. In light of that, I don't find much enjoyment in playing with action figures, I don't make treasure maps except to find my hidden key to my house again after I hide it, I'm more interested in making children's television than watching it and I don't appreciate being misunderstood by people who think anything video game related is childish or by people who think anything video game related is glorious. That's right, no appreciation in either case.

I don't blame anyone for misunderstanding, but it's enough that I've decided I'd put my thoughts on the matter of music, worship, culture, video games and commentary on people who are great at what they do in any of those realms upon the internet. Why? So you can decide to agree or disagree with me at your own leisure by reading or not reading what I have to say. I have some big ideas and today I'd like to explain how imagination and 8-bit music go hand in hand for me.


Here is a song. It's a simple 8-bit overture written for Dragon Warrior 4, a variation on the theme used in the 3 games preceding it, but was never written for anything more than a game console.

That same year, it inspired this... 

Same song. All the parts played by the London Philharmonic are drawn out of the original melody and counter melody of this song's 8-bit muse.

In regards to the songs above, when I hear well done 8-bit music, I start to hear the potential sound of something like the London Philharmonic, Daft Punk, Justice, or Radiohead (other examples are just to clarify that it's not always an orchestra). The inspiration found to take a considerably cheesy bleep bloop bebop sound and turn it into a fully orchestrated piece doesn't pay tribute to the fact that the sound of 8-bit deserves that honor, but the mind of the composer in the composition of the song and the creativity of the arranger felt a compulsion to make something of it. I really enjoy 8-bit because it's fun and can really let my imagination run wild. I also think it sounds rad.

So look at that same idea of arrangement mediums but reversed with Bach's Tocatta and Fugue in D minor used for a game called Gyruss in the early 80's:

Bear in mind, this is played by a person on a pipe organ, the orginal one man band (haters). Also this video gives an awesome visual representation (to musicians who aren't paper trained) of the musical patterns displayed in the fugue which makes me really pumped, not gonna lie.

And here is it's 2.6 bit rendition (the main part of this version pulls mainly from the theme in the previous video heard at 1:23):

This game captured the essence or theme of the tocatta portion with only 2 tones being able to sound at one time. But see how the transition to such a simplified measure of sound can inspire new ideas of the same song requiring the digital arranger here to use those two channels limited by hardware to make the song as interesting as possible? (yeah, it sounds terrible, no one is going to bump this in a club, see past that) It takes on almost a flight of the bumblebee feel and fits the nature of this game of taking on swarms of fighters.

Bearing those principles of inspiration in mind, listen to these tracks limited by 4 wave forms: Triangle, Square, Pulse (25% and 12.5%) and Noise playing in limited sound channels (not sure exactly how many channels the NES hardware allowed for):

I like how this was written without ever thinking about if anyone would ever attempt to play it live. It's possible to play it, but I feel some 8-bit music delves into the realm of experimental performance as songs were written to be completely automated like music boxes on steroids. I believe composers started to delve into thought in the direction of (not actually in theory or ideals of) John Cage in some instances by trying to work with the limitations of the hardware to create an environment in sound with such hardware limitiations.

Could be one of my favorites. not gonna lie.

Get down with your bad self. I've always wanted to make a dance record inspired by this game's entire sound track.

I don't think you can fully appreciate this one without growing up in pre-TMNT world, playing this game, and the feeling of IT'S GOING DOWN the moment this song comes on when Rock-Steady appears in 8-bit insanity out of thin air with a machine gun to fight you.  The creativity I see in achieving that effect with just the 8-bit sounds speaks not only to the composer's choice of sounds, but to the understanding of emotional response they wanted to get from a player engulfed in the game. Well.. that and having a humanoid rhinoceros in punk rock clothing and a machine gun charging at you might have something to do with my imagination going crazy. Go ahead, call me a geek, but you're the one still reading.

If Justice was an 8-bit band and ducks.

So in light of all that was said above (including my passion and desire for worship of Jesus):

I'm imagining arranging hymns of worship in 8-bit. The second step of that is to then build arrangements off what the 8-bit arrangements inspire. Another way to look at it, if you're still scoffing at 8-bit and chiptunes, is to take a look at what Picasso did with painting. Imagine drawing a portrait of someone in the style of Analytic Cubism, giving that portrait to someone else. Now commission them to use the creativity that the abstract portrait inspires to draw, paint or photograph an image that captures their response or develops the longing in which the abstract portrait inspired. Of course, the catch is that it all must be executed well. Would you agree that excellent creativity inspires excellent creativity? 


Try and listen to 8-bit Jesus by Doctoroc and tell me that you aren't hearing some of your favorite Christmas songs in a new light.