Retinascan keeps up with its crazy 3″ CD-r series, so I thought I’d do a rundown of whats been released so far.
8gb‘s release sounds very good, even though he just has previews online. The pounding and techy drum programing and glitchy pulsewaves are crackhead addictive, so this sounds like a no brainer of a purchase. So far “Viking Line” might be my favorite chip song to flay alive my helpless victims. And “61b” is hard enough for the toughest of Techno Vikings. 8GB shows that a savvy ear can push the genre far enough you forget all about what hardware is doing what and just fucking dance.
Another release is from Multifaros, the alter ego of young Swedish gameboy artist Bard Ericson. “Good Luck” is an mix of the Swedish hump style happy blip mania and really grungy almost rock like tones and how successful the blend came across was one of the biggest surprises for me. Following that with the mournful pause of “Legoman” and “Mr. Rai”, and closing out with the arcade funk of “Toffel” and the beautiful “Why Are You Floating” has added Ericson to my must listen list. Excellent stuff.
Finally is the first release in this series, Stu‘s “Atari Solo”. The release is simply a prolonged beat down of the Atari ST soundchip, especially the wife beating kick stomp of “Ready to Score” and the moaning lofi samples in “Fuck Machine”. Stu shows unwavering dedication to fucking shit up. The sound design alone would make this one of the top chip releases of the year, but Stu also has a number in tricks in store with amazing composition and intriguing mix choices. If you only get one (and hell they are cheap enough to get all three), you’d be hard pressed to ignore “Atari Solo”
I am unclear how many retinascan releases they intend to put out in this format, but this may be the hottest chip run of any label in years. Will be sure to keep an eye on it.