Music to Hack to: Nintendo Mixtape | Hacker News Reader

Music to Hack to: Nintendo Mixtape

nintendomixtape.com

54 pointsjeremymims39 comments

As far as I know, this is the very first album release on Hacker News. :-)

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Sorry, these tracks got nothin on "Weezer - The 8-bit Album."

http://www.ptesquad.com/more/pte018.html

This is amazing.

See also the 8bit Peoples:

http://www.8bitpeoples.com/discography

I was gonna recommend OCDJ

Awful rapping + Nintendo songs. Proving once again that familiarity trumps quality.

You hate hiphop generally, right? I think that's an important disclaimer: "this is shitty X, but I don't like anything X"

I like plenty of hiphop. I do think most of it sucks, but then I think most of everything sucks.

Ohh, nevermind then, I thought I read something about hating the genre. Most of every genre sucks

Hi guys,

I hope you enjoy these tracks. My brothers and I couldn't let them go to waste.

PS: Some of these tracks are definitely NSFW. So be careful.

I like it!

While I've got a pretty broad taste in music, rap is generally not on my playlist but this is good stuff.

Too many words! Not the greatest material to hack to, I find it difficult to program while listening to songs with (comprehensible) words.

Definitely agree. Generally, I think good hacking music is unobtrusive (doesn't become a distraction), and somewhat repetitive (causes me to maintain focus). I hate a lot of electronic music because it's often too formulaic, but when it's right for hacking it's oh so right.

Some of my hacking favorites: Aphex Twin--Selected Ambient Works 85-92 (the one essential for hacking IMO), Sigur Ros--Takk..., The Field--From Here We Go Sublime, Linstrom--Where You Go I Go Too

Give me these with no voice and they'll be great.

And a plumber hopping on mushrooms.

Jeremy, fyi the player you're using: http://listen.grooveshark.com/songWidget.swf contains a flash stack overflow error in some effect event handling code that makes the page unviewable with the debug flash player installed.

Good to know. I'll switch the player up this evening.

Y'all should watch this video : http://www.vimeo.com/3734864 . It's an excellent documentary on the chiptune scene. Do a search on vimeo for part 2 and watch it before someone pulls it off.

don't forget The Advantage, who do indie-rock versions of Nintendo tunes w/ live drums, bass, and dual guitars -- http://www.myspace.com/theadvantage1

Significantly better than similar concepts I've heard in the past. The rapping is actually very good, not just a gimmick.

I especially like the Mega Man track. Well done, thanks for posting.

You're very welcome.

Minibosses - my favorite video game music band so far.

http://www.minibosses.com/

One full album available for free on their website, check it out!

There's also slayradio.org, which is mostly C64 remixes. It's mostly pretty fun stuff to listen to, although some of the songs get way too much playtime.

Don't forget kohina and scenemusic.eu

C64 chiptunes > NES chiptunes, and I didn't even own either, as I was a Sega kid.

So what's the appeal of 8-bit music? I don't get it.

Sharp, clean sounds with a bit of nostalgia. It appeals to a certain demographic; if it's not for you, then so it goes.

I used to listen to it but then I realized, "holy fuck why am I living in the past?"

Also, if you want sharp clean sounds you can listen to minimalist techno, some house music, etc. Most music is composed of sharp clean sounds because it's digitally recorded and fine-tuned by sold sound engineers.

Like with anything, creativity can spawn some really good 8-bit music that isn't only re-hashed zelda tunes. For a good starting point, have a look at that documentary I posted in the comments, I used to think it was just "living in the past" until I watched it and looked up some of the music.

edit: I'll include the link again for the lazy: http://www.vimeo.com/3734864

It's often distributed as scores (source code) designed for a particular classic synth chip (an API), not rendered audio. It's very hacker-friendly.

No one mentions RAC? Jeez, peoples.

For instance: http://remixartistcollective.com/?p=85

Rap and coding don't mix.

Any kind of music with lyrics is to me very distracting while coding. Unfortunately the human brain can't really mix processing spoken language and written language.

Try writing while listening to someone, unless you're writing down what they say, you'll surely mix up somewhere and write down what they say anyway.

Gonna check this at home. I was really willing to change the songs on my MP3 player anyway.

My new favorite hacking track: Fischerspooner "Emerge" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Y3m9vSdFbM

Master Blaster ain't horrible.

Ego boostin' - I could definitely solve that bug that's been lingering around like a bad fart listening to this.

Check out Press Play On Tape as well. www.pressplayontape.com. It's a Commodore 64 revival band and way cool :D

http://remix.kwed.org for us c64 grandpas

http://www.8bitpeoples.com/

It's that 8-bit banger son!

That is one fugly slow website.

Two syllables thoroughly trounce this and all other comers: BitJam

http://podcast.bitfellas.org

That is all. Go in peace.

Edit: Less cryptically, this is all demoscene music -- the best minds of the last 25 years, remixed and mastered. Fresh every Monday, which gives me a reason to obsessively check my podcast list.

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