The combination of chiptunes and live instruments may not be a new thing these days, but the duo of Jeffrey “jmr” Roberts and Mikhail “streifig” Ivanov that make up the band Marshall Art helped to master the the concept in the past handful of years. Having released albums of both original compositions as well as arrangements of game music and even live performances at MAGFest, the chiprock team has created a synergy that sounds both retro and fresh at the same time.
With the recent release of their newest EP, Timeline, Marshall Art continues that trend while also bringing in the talents of post-rock musician Cory Johnson to craft a small tribute to old and new game music. The four-track album features arrangements of tracks from The Legend of Zelda, Chrono Trigger, Earthbound and Undertale that take a low-key progressive rock flavor interlaced with chip music that does homage to the roots of the track’s origins as 8 and 16-bit soundtracks while also keeping things sounding modern.
