Media Meditation #4: Musical Nostalgia

IAYD
Supergalactic (2009)

Tracklist:
1. Subatomic (1:08)
2. Between Multiverses (2:53)
3. Physics (4:20)
4. Tycho Brahe (4:44)
5. Redshift (4:47)
6. Super galactic (4:42)
Full legal download available here.

IAYD, also known as I Am Your Destruction, is a one-man 8-bit music project. If you’re wondering what 8-bit music is, then let me direct you to the 8 Bit Peoples, an internet label of sorts that specializes in 8-bit music. But what is 8-bit music? It’s the colloquial term for music created with old gaming systems such as the Nintendo Game Boy. The 8 Bit Peoples even contains an R&D division that works on creating more hardware and software in order to make the creation of this music easier. They’ve been in operation since 1999, and the majority of their vast catalogue is for free download on their website. I can’t say that I’ve listened to it all, or even a statistically significant fraction, but if you have the time to browse their site and download a few albums, you might find something you like. Such was the story for me and IAYD’s Supergalactic.

Supergalactic is, from the 8 Bit People’s album notes, “an invitation to get punched in the face by light-speed melodies and sound barrier-breaching beats.” This is an entirely accurate review of this album, and much more concise and direct than the one you are reading right now. Nevertheless, I will go on because this is the internet and if you didn’t want to read my ramblings then you wouldn’t be here now, would you? While Supergalactic is a very upbeat and danceable album, there is a surprising amount of variation. Each song sounds dramatically different, and though I am no connoisseur of techno music, there are many very interesting sound effects all over the place. From a musical standpoint Supergalactic contains some very unique melodies, and though the rhythm section is what you’d expect, it sounds more like what you’d expect from a rock drummer than from a dance techno artist. It may be my nostalgia for 8-bit music, born from hours and hours of Game Boy play, but I find the music to be very evocative as well, painting visions of space like those on the album cover. From a live standpoint, it’s clear that IAYD makes music to dance to. Or at least, music to party like hell to. You be the judge.



Look at him go! I find it difficult to listen to this music without feeling happy and upbeat, and if the goal of music is to engender emotions in the listener, then Supergalactic is definitely fine music.

IAYD’s second EP, Dirty Electricity, is available on his LastFM page, also for free download.