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Tracklist | |
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01 - Fanfare 02 - Magical 8bit Tour 03 - Pastel Colored Candy 04 - Darling 05 - POW * POW 06 - Interlude 07 - SOCOPOGOGO(YMCK Version) 08 - Synchronicity 09 - Tetrominon -From Russia with Blocks- 10 - Does John Coltrane Dream of a Merry-go-round? 11 - Yellow, Magenta, Cyan and Black (Theme from YMCK) 12 - Your Quest is Over |
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Review | |
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If you've seen The Matrix then you'll know the theory that what we are experiencing and think of as real life is actually nothing more than an amazingly advanced computer simulation. YMCK also believe that life is a computer game, but rather than being realistically lifelike, it is in fact something more along the lines of the old Nintendo Mario Brothers games. Family Music opens with the 19 seconds of "Fanfare," which sounds – funnily enough – like the pre-game fanfare of an old 8-bit platform game. Then the music starts with "Magical 8bit Tour," a fairly fast moving tune of basic beeps and bops, over the top of which Midori Kurihara sings in a cute-little-school-girl kind of voice. This is ‘8-bit music' (also known as ‘chip music') in which the sounds are all created on, or created to sound like they were created on, old 8-bit games consoles. YMCK created the sounds for this album using software they wrote to emulate the old Nintendo 8 bit sound chip. The end product is an entire album of vibrant and energetic musical beeps and electronic noises, that wouldn't be out of place on the soundtrack of a twenty year old video game - it's basic, repetitive, and catchy as hell. "Tetrominon ~ From Rusia With Blocks" kicks off sounding less like music, and more like an audio recording of someone actually playing Tetris (with line-complete sound effects and all!), but then it picks up and once again we're off into the realms of 8-bit fantasy as Midori sings ‘The blocks from Russia are falling down to make your brain messed up with mysteries. It's hard to perceive, easy to destroy – like your life itself.' The album finishes with "Your Quest Is Over." A slow moving number that really does wonderfully capture that old end-of-game feeling – of an exciting adventure completed, and the warm fuzzy sense of accomplishment that goes with that. It's the perfect ending to the album. It's inherent cuteness and limited sound palette means that, to begin with, the songs on Family Music seem lacking in depth and variety. But after a few listens it starts to grow on you, and you begin to fully appreciate what the group are doing here. That's also the point where you realise you can't get the damn tunes out of your head! |
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