Nothing like a healthy dose of 8-bit action to tickle your earbuds and fire your electro synapses. You can label it as whatever kind of gimmick you’d like to, but the “NES-core” movement is moving faster than a cheetah that’s just been promised a lifetime supply of pre-killed gazelles if it breaks its species’ speed record.
Don’t waste your time trying to think of how fast that cheetah would be running (you’ll never be able to do it), but, rather, consider a band like Yakuza Heart Attack. For the most part, YHA’s math/new-wave/prog/bit-pop hybrid leaves the gimmicks to the gimmicky and cuts a few trails of its own. On their debut LP, the Dayton, Ohio quartet blazes through 34 minutes of music Nintendo would love to license. The form, not unlike Deerhoof’s Friend Opportunity, leaves only a few moments for rest. This record is a concise microcosm of a surprising amount of what’s good in instrumental electronic music. Theme and variations persist throughout; a myriad of synth leads weave between reworked melody after reworked melody, with revolving and modulating chord progressions that sound lifted right off King Crimson's Larks’ Tongues in Aspic. Lovely drum compression (think Menomena-style) adds a terrific wash to the back of these tracks, something unusual for this type of music.
There are a few moments that you’ll find yourself spoiled by YHA’s lavishness. “Material Destruction,” while containing a clever melody and enjoyable time signatures, is lacking in sonic merriment. The Queen influence is also felt, for better or for worse, on “Dreaming Frequencies,” with what sounds like a tripped-out version of “Bohemian Rhapsody.” I’m still on the fence about that one.
While Yakuza Heart Attack is pretty fun to hear at any time, it was practically made for playing Super Smash Brothers. No joke. With the possible exception of The Elektric Band, it’s hard to find better music to smash to -- that is, until YHA release their follow-up, which will either be a survey of a train wreck or a blueprint of synthesized hypnosis. Stay tuned.
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