Mikel: Zelda & Chill Vinyl LP

no longer a secret to everybody!A close relative of vaporwave, Lo-fi Hip Hop Beats is a postmodern music genre spawned by Youtube algorithims. As I write this, over 15,000 people are are listening to Chilledcows stream, an endless melange of anonymous downtempo samples and rain-on-your-window breakbeats, united by a staticy vinyl hiss. From early Fairlight experiments by Trevor Horn (Art of Noise, Yes) to Kanye West and Daft Punkspop hit “Stronger”, sample-based music has been dominant for decades, appealing equally to underground crate diggers and pop music interpolators. A more recent development in this tradition of musical recycling are Chiptunes, which consists of music inspired by the limitations of the FM synthesizer chips in vintage video game consoles. Zelda & Chill is a merging of these two contemporary traditions, featuring smooth takes on BGM from across the 2-decade old Legend of Zelda series. The sounds here range from up-front Tribe snares, monophonic keyboard lines, and moody Rhodes piano washes, transforming these indelibly nostalgic melodies into something familiar yet new. This record is pressed on black vinyl.

• black vinyl pressing
• 2023 remastered edition (GZ Pressing)
• limited edition
• music label: GameChops2022

reviewed by philip’s seedy eye 04/2019

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