DiscoEx Archive: 3Z #8

So I’m out of town for a week for work conferences, but I had to leave you with a sweet, nostalgic treat for the week. I’ve been walking around wearing my atari shirt proudly all day, and played some Pacman at a taco joint on Thursday, so when I came upon an unmarked whitelabel record in the store today, dropped the needle and heard video game music remixes of Beck, it was as if the Universe spoke with the voice of the Wozbot and told me, “go forth and spread the lo-fi funk” - and so I’ve come with crunchy coin-operated choons for you.
Download 3Z8bit here. (8 MB MP3)

Maru & Comix - “3 SIDs In A Computer”	There have been several compilations in recent years of music either made on Commodore 64 computers or made using the synthesizer technology they contain called the SID chip. In fact, the SID sound has become so popular you can buy kits to build your own SID synth, as well as synths made from 4 SID chips all working together to craft deliciously crystalline, lo-fi sounds. The collection “SID Musique” features an excellent selection of musicians from Japan to the US (word up Caltrop!) and Europe. Maru and Comix come out on top though, with these bangin’ beats and farty bass with samples that come from the wrong end of a prank. This article from Igloo Magazine has an excellent survey of the 8-bit nostalgic landscape of today, including an interview with Emanuel Günther, head of the Erkrankung Durch Musique label which released the SID Musique compilation, in addition to interviews with 8-Bit Rockers, Bochum Welt and more.
Beck - “Gameboy/Homeboy (Que Onda Guero 8-bit remix” Buy it @ Turntable Lab	Who can’t love Beck? Let’s forgive the Scientology - just this time, though. The’s man’s always on some next-level plane with his music. Whether it’s the nitrous-warped junk soul of Stereopathetic Soul Manureor his Prince-channeling orgy plea “Deborah”, I can’t get enough. So here’s the white label record I found in the store today - Beck remixed by 8-Bit. And who, exactly, is 8-bit you ask? “…They are a robotic old school nintendo rap crew: lefrost, anti-log, spacey k, and robo-t landed on your goddamn planet in 2002. Having grown accustomed to the humaniod lifestyle they now get drunk, eat at taco trucks and beat ass every muthafucking goddamn night, bitch.” Amen, broth3r.
Dis*ka - “Smells Like Teen Spirit”	I had to end it with something fun. This cover is how the SID chip really sounds - the signature 4-voice polyphony, the resonant filter, the crunchy drums, straight outta the console. So though it’s been played, many times, many ways, happy Nirvana from me to you.