CD, Hidden Youth Records, 2007
www.hiddenyouthrecords.co.uk
Digital Heart? I would rather say analogue logical circuitry heart. A true chiptune record indeed! Not one of those modern versions of chip tunes music, this goes the real way down the line. Made with software written for classic consoles and computer such as Game Boy, NES , Sega Game Gear, ZX spectrum, Commodore 64, Acorn Electron, MSX and more!
You can’t get more retro than this if you’re into this kind of stuff. And like popping up your favourite cartridge in your favourite 80’s system, this will – strangely – bring you back all those memories that only those wonderful devices can usually replenish. And yet, this record can make it as one of your favourites. Remember how those wicked lo-fi, archaic and lo tech soundtracks stuck to your mind? Well, this will make it too, somehow appealing to that section in your brain that has been locked for about 20 years, and replaced with all those fancy orchestrated, humanized sounds of today.
I especially liked the short “Segue 18” as it is… Well, I don’t know but it would gladly suit a nice 8-bit boss battle, either being defeating a boss in an old RPG or even on a shoot’em up. This record does leave a lot to your imagination and if you’re a retro programmer you can pretty much close your eyes and imagine a game situation to suit it and then just go ahead and create it. You’ll find inspiration for anything here, really, there’s ballads, such as the fittingly titled “A Party Without You” colliding with grooviness of tunes such as “Showdown In The Disco”.
While some of the new chiptune movement does take some of the 8 bit music, very often it does mix it with modern sounds and production, but Pixelh8 is the real thing. In his second release, “The Boy With The Digital Heart”, you will only find the true thing. M.Applegate is indeed a talented composer (and electro-technician, apparently) that took the time and true love and nostalgic interest to create his own tools that would enable him to make his own (yet everyone’s) music.
[8/10]
— Gonçalo Vasco