Music Review: 8-Bit Operators
Astralwerks, the label that brought us Air, Phoenix, and Beth Orton, are now upping the compilation ante. In what might be the best idea for a collaborative volume in ages, the music of German synth pioneers Kraftwerk is being shrink-wrapped and reinterpreted through 8-bit video game sequencers. As if their music didn't appeal to the geek crowd enough already, make them sound like an early Konami game soundtrack and we will adore it infinitely more.
All our favorite Gameboy programmers are representing in force and their work here is top notch. Standouts include Glomag's rendering of "Pocket Calculator," 8-Bit Weapon laying a moody pad down on "Spacelab," and Role Model waxing Annie Lennox on "Showroom Dummies." 15 tracks of blips and bloops might seem overkill, but there's enough variety and continuity here to make 8-Bit Operators the best thing to put on when you feel like dusting off your old NES cartridges. My personal favorite though is Hamburg's Oliver Wittchow putting a heavy arcade coating on "Kristallo." Every pre-console visceral noise is accounted for- the tank kersploding in Battlezone, the pow box in Mario Bros., and the trickle-down in Centipede- yet all of them maintain the melody and rhythmic punch of the original tune.
With a background unabashedly nerdy and innovative, the "krautrock" quartet almost independently evolved electronic music in their over quarter-century existence. It's inspiring to see that heritage of pushing technological boundaries upheld in these protégés. From the first notes of Bacalao's opening cover of "The Robots (Die Roboter)" you realize you're in for a real treat. By the time closing track "The Man Machine (Die Mensch-Maschine)" by gwEm and Counter Reset wraps up the set, its clear that only the vintage gaming audio suited this compilation- no other method captures the mechanical mindset and imaginative potential of a band as important as Kraftwerk.
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