A Commodore 64 yesterday.

The Commodore 64 was an outstanding machine, its abilities were pretty amazing for the time and whilst its graphical abilities were good, they were matched by other 8-bit machines of the time. Its sound though? Well that’s another story altogether.

The Commodore 64 was home to one of the most powerful sound processors of the time; the SID.

The SID, or Sound Interface Device, was the sound controller that was used in the Commodore 64, essentially it was an analogue synth on a chip and the range of sounds it could produce were streets ahead of anything else at the time.

To this day it’s still used, primarily in a MIDI sound module – the SIDStation – and the sounds it makes have been very popular with the rap and R&B communities, with numerous tracks sporting SID arpeggios.

That there is the SID.

Some producers have been less than honest though. Timbaland in particular. He infamously lifted the entire melody from the Commodore 64 arrangement of an Amiga tune; Acidjazzed Evening and used it in the Nelly Furtado song Do It.

The original composer was given no credit. The whole thing sucked.

Regardless of all that the SID’s sound remains unique and is instantly recognisable to any retro gaming fan or 8-bit afficianado.

It’s good that SID music is still being listened to, and that it’s so easy to get, regardless of the rather dishonest use of those tunes by some.

If you’ve never heard the SID belt out a tune on its own – without an overpaid half wit babbling all over it – you’ve really missed a great experience. That’s why I’ve put together my top ten favourite SID tunes for you to listen to. I’m kind like that.

Wizball – Martin Galway

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Good grief Wizball was an amazing game and it was made by the music. This is the high score theme which is lovely and mellow and would often round off a session nicely.

Its mellow and spacey all at the same time. I love it!

Cybernoid II – Jeroen Tel

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This came slightly later in the Commodore 64′s life and is altogether a bit more full on. That’s not to say it’s not great, because it is, it’s just a bit stronger.

Sanxion – Rob Hubbard

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Ooh! Sanxion! What a belter this is. Loading a game took ages back in the mid-eighties, so it was always good when you got a rocking piece of music like this to distract you. Mind you I didn’t think that much of Sanxion as a game, it never really did it for me. I suspect I’m in the minority there though.

Parallax – Martin Galway

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This piece of music comes from the part of Parallax where you’re running around the deserted cities, usually drugging scientists. It really conjured up the isolation of being in a practically empty, alien city.

Just me then?

The Last Ninja – Ben Daglish & Anthony Lees

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Every single tune in The Last Ninja was a corker. In the end I plumped for this one, no particular reason as they are all mini-masterpieces in their own right.

Tetris – Wally Beben

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The closest the Commodore 64 got to prog rock was this awesome twenty five minute epic that accompanied – in hindsight – one of the worst versions of Tetris I’ve ever played.

At the time though I seem to recall thinking that Commodore 64 Tetris was awesome. I was only thirteen mind and it was a cold winter. Nevertheless listening to this and resetting the line counter twice (it reset at 255) was my idea of a great night back then.

Hunter’s Moon – Matt Gray

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Another loading screen tune and what a stunner it is. The slow militaristic beat accompanied a brilliant loading screen and once again it really got you in the mood for the game to come, which by the way was corking.

I seem to recall it was also quite easy to cheat and rack up a whole host of extra lives because of the regenerating nature of the game world. This meant you could point your ship at an alien structure, pop a book on your fire button, zip off and have your tea, all the while safe in the knowledge you were racking up the points as the computer controlled drones went around rebuilding the scenery you were getting points for destroying! Happy days.

Quedex – Matt Gray

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Quedex, or to give it its full title; The Quest For Ultimate Dexterity! I spent about two hours failing the first level because I hadn’t read the instructions.

The only thing that kept me going was the music, my reasoning being that if the music was this good the game must be pretty special. That and the fact that it had got a Zzap! Sizzler.

Firefly – Fred Gray

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Tidy little game, nothing special but the music was ace!

Zamzara – Charles Deenen

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A scrolling Contra style affair without the delicate control that Contra afforded you. Given that it was a budget title (£2.99, bargain!) the graphics and music were amazing!

Pearl Jam’s mature sound is rather wonderful.

This is just another example of Vedder’s awesome songwriting ability. Beautiful.

Eddie Vedder wrote the soundtrack to the movie Into The Wild, this is one of the songs on that soundtrack; Guaranteed.

Secretly I love Eddie Vedder. Shhh! It’s a secret.

I love New York and this song is, for me, the new New York, New York.

What’s more it was released on my 35th birthday, though what that has to do with anything I’m fucked if I know.

I love Amy Winehouse.

I know she’s got issues and that she a bit too keen on the drugs but hey, she’s got a fantastic musical ability and she’s as hot as you like.

Well, she was. (more…)

So after spotting an amazing offer from Matthew Gehrett for his services in theme song writing I decided to send him the requested fee.

This is the result!

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I quite like it, not sure about the battle axe malarkey but fuck it, it sounds good and not a little Scott Weilandy. So it’s fine by me.

Rage Against The Machine are the UK’s Christmas number one! Yeah get in! Fuck you Simon Cowell, fuck you, we won’t do what you tell us!

Isn’t it fantastic that a small body of people can cause such a huge upset? What hope it gives us to know that a brave cadre can march victorious, safe in the knowledge that they’ve fought the good fight. That they’ve stopped the evil record industry from winning with their fakery. That they’ve really stuck it to The Man! Isn’t it great?

In a word. No. (more…)

Given that Tony went to so much effort to create a new game — in the vein of the debut album game from last year — I felt I had to play along.

The basic gist of the game is that you compile your own list of ten songs to appear on your imaginary film soundtrack.

Being a lover of music I thought I’d give it a go, so I chose my ten songs and have complied the list here! (more…)

Lily Allen’s really dropped a bit of a bollock recently with her half formed outpourings of anguish at the prospect of losing money to the evil of illegal downloads.

Not that I want to start rambling on about the lack of any concrete statistics to support the recording industry’s notion that downloads are killing music but I would like to point out that a download does not equate to a lost sale.

There are at least three ways that this can be the case. (more…)

Is mine! The story behind it goes a bit like this.

Restless Cheese and I went to see Pearl Jam in Manchester last night, in true fashion this was just a bit of an excuse for some hard drinking, although whether or not I’d call white russians hard I’m not certain.

So as far as it goes we arrived in Manchester around half five – after a completely dry train journey – checked into our hotel and then headed off out for a bit of dinner and a couple of cheeky cocktails. Queue the Revolution!

I’m quite a fan of Revolutions – the bars, not the uprisings – they’re generally pretty cool during the day and, if you time it right, not too bad at night either.

So we mosey on in and after a brief tussle with the menu and the outrageous offers we settled on a bargaintastic two for one burger deal (or mushroom-in-a-bap for Restless Cheese), along with some top notch two for one cocktails. Nice! Revolution had clearly lined itself up for a later visit.

It was at this, post Pearl Jam, visit that the coolest thing in the world happened.

Once we arrived back in Revolution the lure of shots was irresistible, the most amazing of which is or was the porridge shot. The porridge shot is a heady mix of vodka sugar and oats, and its taste is beyond amazing. Although some people, who shall remain nameless and who are clearly big mincers, think it’s foul.

Anyway this ambrosia no longer features on Revolution’s shot menu, undeterred by this I asked the lovely Duncan (best barman in the world by the way) if he had access to a secret stash of said alcohol. After a brief furtle in the cellar he returned with a bottle containing – what can only be described as – oaty dregs.

I of course jumped at the chance to consume this most delicious drink and immediately ordered two.

After retiring to a table Restless Cheese and I drank our white russians, interspersing their consumption with a shot or two from our ‘stick’. It was on about shot three that the magic happened.

Duncan approached our table and produced an entire bottle of porridge vodka from behind his back! How much was he asking for this delicious treat? Just £10. Ten stirlings for the most delicious drink in the world?

Did I want it? Yes I did!

Did I get it? Yes I did!

What I do have to say though is that I owe a great deal of thanks to Restless Cheese, for it was on his dollar that this bottle was purchased. Thank you, you are a great friend and I can’t wait to open it to celebrate the birth of your son and heir! I don’t care if that was a drunken promise either, you’re sticking to it!