21 votes

Looking for chiptune album recommendations

Posted by kfwyre
Tags: ask.recommendations, genres, chiptune, albums

Albums specifically, please! Not individual songs. I’m wanting something meant to be listened to from back to front.

I thought about listing some of the favorites I already have, but I don’t want to prime the recommendations. I might jump in with some in a comment later if other people are wanting to enjoy the recommendations too.

Anyway, give me any chiptune album favorites you have. If the music sounds like a game console is having a good, meaningful, moody, or interesting time, then that’s exactly what I’m looking for!

Also, game soundtracks are fine as long as they work as an album.

18 comments

  1. [3]
    Akir
    Link
    @Kfwyre, my child, why did you not ask me this question first? There are too many to make pretty. https://vgmrips.net/packs/pack/akumajo-dracula-sharp-x68000...
    • Exemplary

    @Kfwyre, my child, why did you not ask me this question first?

    There are too many to make pretty.

    Ryu Umemoto gets a section all to himself:

    It's not an album, but the favorites list on my profile on Battle of the Bits also has quite a few bangers.

    This is just a few that I looked up really quick, but in reality there are tons of other chiptunes I can direct you to.

    12 votes
    1. [2]
      kfwyre
      Link Parent
      I wanted to ask the whole site, but I was definitely hoping I’d see your name specifically pop up in the responses. You didn’t disappoint! Thanks for this great list of gaming deep cuts! I’m going...

      I wanted to ask the whole site, but I was definitely hoping I’d see your name specifically pop up in the responses. You didn’t disappoint!

      Thanks for this great list of gaming deep cuts! I’m going to have to spend some time working through these and seeing what sticks.

      2 votes
      1. Akir
        Link Parent
        If I may make one suggestion, take the time to listen to the Umemoto soundtracks when you can focus on them without any distractions. Most of the soundtracks I selected are loud and bombastic, but...

        If I may make one suggestion, take the time to listen to the Umemoto soundtracks when you can focus on them without any distractions. Most of the soundtracks I selected are loud and bombastic, but Umemoto’s are slow-burning and understated. I have a really hard time describing why his music is so good, so it’s something you have to discover for yourself.

        4 votes
  2. Jordan117
    Link
    PPPPPP (Magnus Pålsson's soundtrack for VVVVVV) is great. To me one mark of a solid chiptune track is that it sounds just as good transposed into a more traditional medium, and this one definitely...

    PPPPPP (Magnus Pålsson's soundtrack for VVVVVV) is great. To me one mark of a solid chiptune track is that it sounds just as good transposed into a more traditional medium, and this one definitely qualifies.

    8 votes
  3. [3]
    SpruceWillis
    Link
    The Super Hexagon soundtrack by Chipzel is a good shout, it's only a few tracks but they're very good, especially "Focus" which is very intense and high energy. I'd also suggest maybe listening to...

    The Super Hexagon soundtrack by Chipzel is a good shout, it's only a few tracks but they're very good, especially "Focus" which is very intense and high energy.

    I'd also suggest maybe listening to some of Sabrepulses earlier stuff (I believe he's an EDM artist now). I used to listen to some of his early stuff which was great chip tune music back in 2006-2007 I think, it's been a while haha.

    8 votes
    1. [2]
      blueshiftlabs
      Link Parent
      Chipzel also did the soundtrack for another one of Terry Cavanagh's games, Dicey Dungeons. It's not strictly chiptune the way Super Hexagon was, but it includes some chiptune elements. Fighting...

      Chipzel also did the soundtrack for another one of Terry Cavanagh's games, Dicey Dungeons. It's not strictly chiptune the way Super Hexagon was, but it includes some chiptune elements. Fighting Chance is my favorite track on the album, and is a good example of the blend of chiptune and traditional instrumentation that's present across the whole soundtrack.

      4 votes
  4. GMerg
    Link
    Personally I shop all my chiptunes here: https://www.dataairlines.net/ Master Boot Record and Dubmood are by favorites.

    Personally I shop all my chiptunes here: https://www.dataairlines.net/ Master Boot Record and Dubmood are by favorites.

    6 votes
  5. [2]
    conception
    Link
    https://aivisura.bandcamp.com/album/meanwhile?from=fanpub_fb_pr&utm_source=album_release&utm_medium=email&utm_content=fanpub_fb_pr&utm_campaign=aivisura+album+meanwhile - just came out with a new...

    https://aivisura.bandcamp.com/album/meanwhile?from=fanpub_fb_pr&utm_source=album_release&utm_medium=email&utm_content=fanpub_fb_pr&utm_campaign=aivisura+album+meanwhile - just came out with a new album. Their “breakout” album https://aivisura.bandcamp.com/album/the-black-box-10th-anniversary-deluxe-edition also just had a rerelease.

    6 votes
    1. SeraphicSoul
      Link Parent
      Aivi & Surasshu was one of my very first album purchases as a young person and The Black Box still gets a listen once every few months. Album listening is something of a lost art these days, but I...

      Aivi & Surasshu was one of my very first album purchases as a young person and The Black Box still gets a listen once every few months. Album listening is something of a lost art these days, but I still value it for its ability to tell a story. (Not chiptune, but I like The Flashbulb for similar reasons.) Strong seconded on Aivi & Surasshu for chiptune albums, it really does flow together quite well while still being good distinct song collections.

      2 votes
  6. canekicker
    Link
    I never got that into chiptunes so I don't know if purists would throw them in here but I really enjoyed The Depreciation Guild - In Gentle Jaws, it's basically dreampop with a chiptunes...

    I never got that into chiptunes so I don't know if purists would throw them in here but I really enjoyed The Depreciation Guild - In Gentle Jaws, it's basically dreampop with a chiptunes aesthetic. For me their follow up album , Spirit Youth, is better but it's a straight dreampop album with chiptune sounds sprinkled in with the most heavy "chiptune" sound coming in the song Through The Snow

    5 votes
  7. knocklessmonster
    (edited )
    Link
    I'm opening with a rule break, Binaerpilot. He started doing purely chiptune, putting a few albums out on 8bitpeoples. This link basically the last updated archive of his discography when he...

    I'm opening with a rule break, Binaerpilot. He started doing purely chiptune, putting a few albums out on 8bitpeoples. This link basically the last updated archive of his discography when he shifted to running a creative community instead of being a musician with his own forum. I accidentally link to one of my favorite tracks of his, Battlestar II, which opens with this fat SIDStation line.

    Minusbaby:

    BIAS, originally released as Left and Derecha, he re-mixed the albums into what ultimately became his swansong as he moved into less lo-fi production, but I keep forgetting the name of that new project. Other solid recommendations are Saudade for Beginners which is a pure chiptune album.

    Only the last album of these three is basically "pure" chiptune, but Left and Derecha were originally fairly dry. His re-mixing of these added some effects which gave it a bass boost and, honestly a sense of space that I feel makes it feel better.

    I forgot Supercommuter. Andrew Hartpence, Long-time Nintendo employee/rapper, current Sr. Director, Brand, Video Game, and Trading Card Game Marketing at The Pokémon Company International, and Andy Myers, former Nintendo Power contributor-turned-chiptune-artist-after-writing-an-article-for-them (aka Stenobot) put this album together for the Child's Play charityand it's amazing. As are the other two they made. It's Hartpence as his rap moniker "Wheelie Cyberman" of Optimus Rhyme rapping, Stenobot with a GameBoy, and I believe occasional Speak and Spell, and Tron Juan who did basically everything else (recording, mixing, etc).

    4 votes
  8. vord
    (edited )
    Link
    I Fight Dragons is pretty much the only chiptune band I still listen to with regularity. Cool is just a number was a great EP, and KABOOM! a solid debut album. Every so often I dust off Machinae...

    I Fight Dragons is pretty much the only chiptune band I still listen to with regularity. Cool is just a number was a great EP, and KABOOM! a solid debut album.

    Every so often I dust off Machinae Supremacy's Deus Ex Machinae. I'm kicking myself, because I think I bought one of the OG 1,000 pressings (which had the Futurama sample at the beginning of Attack Music), but lost it in my many moves. I'm sure there's a few rips floating around.

    Edit, my memory failed me, it was Arcade I was thinking of with the Futurama sample, and the OG Vorbis downloads. Deus Ex being the cleaned up studio release without the legal baggage.

    3 votes
  9. [2]
    LookAtTheName
    Link
    Never got big into this genre, but a couple I can remember: Anamanaguchi Bit Shifter Sabrepulse A bit different: Solar Fields did the soundtracks for Mirror's Edge and Mirror's Edge: Catalyst.

    Never got big into this genre, but a couple I can remember:

    Anamanaguchi
    Bit Shifter
    Sabrepulse

    A bit different:
    Solar Fields did the soundtracks for Mirror's Edge and Mirror's Edge: Catalyst.

    2 votes
  10. balooga
    Link
    If you're into Pink Floyd you might like MOON8, a chiptune cover of DSOTM. (Listen to Side 1 and Side 2.) I have no idea where this falls in the broader landscape of the chiptune music scene but I...

    If you're into Pink Floyd you might like MOON8, a chiptune cover of DSOTM. (Listen to Side 1 and Side 2.)

    I have no idea where this falls in the broader landscape of the chiptune music scene but I enjoy it for what it is.

    1 vote
  11. Toric
    Link
    Im no connisur of the genre, but the shovel knight soundtrack is my favorite.

    Im no connisur of the genre, but the shovel knight soundtrack is my favorite.

    1 vote
  12. Nemoder
    Link
    Shatter Soundtrack is great, maybe it's more electronic than chiptune? Always gets me pumped though.

    Shatter Soundtrack is great, maybe it's more electronic than chiptune? Always gets me pumped though.

    1 vote