Joey Mariano, known among chiptune fans by his artist name “Animal Style,” left a bad first impression with me. He was scheduled to perform at MAGFest 8 (earlier this year) after Metroid Metal alongside some other chiptune artists. I was sitting on a chair in a corner, and he was like “I’m setting up here.” And I’m all like, “dude, I’m writing here! Don’t think this will go unnoticed!”
I was being facetious of course. Dude wants to sell his wares, that’s fine. Especially when I saw that alongside his EP “Open Air” (available as an 8cm CD), he had another album for sale for $30 as a limited edition NES cartridge that actually plays the music when you put it in an NES! Well that’s pretty hardcore, my friends. So I wasn’t really upset. However, I think he may have been worried that I was upset. My consolation prize for having to *move out of my chair* (what a huge sacrifice!) was Open Air. Well, maybe he just knew I was a writer and wanted me to talk about the album. Wish granted, good sir. Sorry it took so long.
Anyway, how does the album sound? Put simply, I kind of wish I had picked up that other NES cartridge album (Teletime) for $30. That’s how cool his music is. Does that whet your appetite for 8-bit goodness? I hope so. Read on after the jump! (more…)
