Discovering the Vaporwave Sound of CD-i Tetris

While the modern gaming populace is enjoying the conglomeration of Puyo Puyo Tetris, I’ve suddenly found myself crushing pretty hard on regular old Tetris… for the Philips CD-i. The 1992 release for the largely forgotten CD-i was completely off my radar, even as a kid who desperately, foolishly wanted the interactive/edutainment console. It’s all for the best though, I would never have appreciated Jim Andron’s New Age, proto-Vaporware soundtrack when I was deep into Metal, Industrial and Techno.

Having been turned onto it this week by Matt Hawkins over at Attract Mode, though, I admit I’m totally in love with this soundtrack. For those not familiar, Vaporware is one of many “microgenres” of electronic music fixated on 80’s/90’s nostalgia. I’ve heard it likened to the sound of corporate training videos, on-hold music or elevator music and the crunchy compression of the source material — despite the shiny 224kbps AAC rip — only adds to the wistful 90’s feel for me.

In video game music terms there’s a lot in here that calls up Wave Race 64 and “Dire Dire Docks” from Super Mario 64. I even get a little vibe of The Sims here and there. But don’t expect a touchy-feely remix of the familiar Tetris theme, “Korobeiniki”, the closest thing to sounding “Russian” is the song from the High Score screen. Aside from that it’s a very consistent sound and quite a long playlist at just over 45 minutes, as you’d hope for a soundtrack that accompanies the potentially endless addiction of Tetris.

Anyways, it’s well worn territory at this point and I’m just doing my part to spread the word on some obscure and unique old game music that’s new to me. You can check out the recording above from MaxOfS2D on YouTube or see the game in action here; CD-i Tetris conveniently had no sound effects so every recording puts a focus on the music.

While you’re down here, let us know your favorite Tetris (or Tetris derivative) soundtrack in the comments. CD-i Tetris has jumped pretty high on my list but the top is still reserved for The New Tetris on Nintendo 64.