The label celebrate video game music with a massive new release.
Hyperdub has unveiled the new release Diggin’ In The Carts: A Collection of Pioneering Japanese Video Game Music, a compilation of hidden gems of game music.
The collection comes from Nick Dwyer’s documentary series of the same name for Red Bull Music Academy, which examines the impact and history of video game music alongside interviews featuring iconic video game composers and popular artists they’ve influenced. Dwyer researched and compiled the collection with Hyperdub boss Kode9 with the aim of spotlighting the incredible electronic music made for these systems often within strict technological limitations.
“Some of the greatest art is created within limitations, and often the most pioneering and influential periods in electronic music have resulted from artists pushing existing technology to its limits,” the label says. True to that sentiment, the collection features music from classic consoles including the NES, SNES and Sega Genesis, as well as Japanese home computers such as the MSX, MSXturboR and the PC-8801.
The collection includes music from iconic games such as Thunder Force IV, Actraiser and the Gradius/Nemesis series along with more obscure titles such as Soshi Hosoi’s ‘Mister Divine’, taken from the Super Famicon mahjong game The Majhong Touhaiden and available to stream above.
It also closes with a song from Alien Solider, which topped our own list of the best Sega Genesis soundtracks you’ve never heard of.
Diggin’ In The Carts is out November via Hyperdub. Pre-order it here and take a look at the artwork from Animatrix director and anime icon Koji Morimoto below.
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