Cheap Dinosaurs

Let it be known that when the high priests of video gaming convene in their own council of Nicene, the bedrock of catchy video game design should be known as tactile sound. Simply put, every action that the player performs, even trivial actions like opening the menu, should be accompanied by a sound. This is to assist immersion, since in real life every action that we take produces a sound, even something as simple as dropping a pen on the table. Compelling gaming demands the same.

Cheap Dinosaurs is probably the most interesting instrumental rock band I've ever listened to. Their catch is the source of their main melody: a Nintendo Gameboy. That's right: 8 bit processor running at 4.19 MHZ, 8 kb RAM, output to a 160x144 pixel passive-matrix lcd 4 shade grayscale screen. 

The Nintendo Gameboy.

They recall your favorite whimsical 8 bit soundscapes from games that you can't quite recall but which sound familiar...somehow...from the days of the Nintendo Entertainment System. I'm not familiar enough with the great 8 bit RPG's to really put a finger on it, but the melodies shout out, "look at this incredible digital world! Green fields, impossible blue skies, dark forests, what more could you want? Now go and play!" 

Behind it all is a full backing band digging some really great grooves. Really, they remind me of the beloved Interpol in some of these grooves. In the meanwhile, for all the 8-bit nostalgists, why bother with actually playing old ROM'd games on buggy computer emulators? I end up having to reload 20 times per hour anyways. Just listen to this band.