Tuesday 20 December 2022

Warming Up

Rupprecht Geiger - Leuchtrot orange - leuchtrot warm (1965)


Things are warming up after a touch of really cold days - which is fitting given the first track on this list. It's one that I've been sitting on for a while and isn't part of some grander theme though, this is gonna be a return to the good old fashioned roundup of random tracks as in days past.

Starting with some Mitch Murder from one of the Selections series. I say every time Mitch comes up that his work feels very sincere in its love for the genres that so clearly inspired it - Melting Point really captures that retro anime ending theme vibe on its intro (as displayed on the cover art, doubly so going by the original cover art), which is what made it stand out to me on a recent shuffle. From then on, it's a standard Mitch Murder affair. Not to sound too reductive mind you, Mitch is one of my favourite Synthwave artists and is very, very good at what he does.



Dwelling in similar circles for the time being, a little bit of Macross 82-99. I mentioned Sailorwave III way back in some Bandcamp Friday summary but not so much since, not for a lack of things to talk about though. Macross' anime influence is a little more pronounced if the name didn't give it away already, but as I've said in the past when I've covered the other Sailorwaves, you don't need to be a fan to enjoy what's on offer here - the Sailor Moon trimmings are mainly for show. Macross' style is a blend of lotsa genres, a touch of Vaporwave, a bit of disco and a splash of House to name a few - the highlights from III for me are the slow jams like this one here, they do a fantastic job of demonstrating what Macross is all about.



Rounding out with a couple from ThorHighHeels' Positive Yellow, specifically the slightly expanded DX version that has a couple bonus tracks on it. The whole idea behind Positive Yellow is that it's one big love letter to the world of soundtracks from the fifth generation of video game consoles. Think low-poly 3D models set to techno and Drum & Bass and you're mostly there. THH does a fantastic job of embodying that sound without feeling too cliché IMO, and also shows a fair bit of variety in the genres beyond just endless breakbeat or techno. Case in point here with Final Yellow, very obviously taking some cues from the soundtracks for Silent Hill with it's hazy trip hop-esque execution, it feels like it could be the OST from a survival horror results screen.



And, just because that one is a little short, another little bonus to see us out. This one also feels like a results screen theme, but from something a little more action oriented. I'm actually specifically reminded of the Ape Escape 1 results screen soundtrack, though THH's take is a little bit more rough sounding. This track acually originally appeared on a mini EP called Moom, a soundtrack to one of their YT videos. It's inclusion on this expanded release of Positive Yellow doesn't feel too out of place though, and brings things to a nice close - even if it does betray me saying the album isn't too cliché with that "GAME OVER voice clip sample at the end.



And that'll be all for this time, a little more upbeat that usual this one feels like. I'll be back around soon enough with more, I may take a little break towards the end of December but I will definitely get a couple more things written before year's end. Hope you've enjoyed the selections today, even if they were a little brief in parts! Until next time, as always, stay safe and enjoy the music.

-CVF

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