There are unrelated songs that have been brought to my attention as of late, which are unrelated except for similar experiences when I first listened to them.
The first is the title theme of Solstice, the buff wizard 3D-ish puzzle game for the original Nintendo. I played this right when it came out, at 12 years old, back when renting games from a video store was a common occurrence for members of the Gen X cohort. The introductory music, from Nintendo logo to title screen, was probably the only time video game music gave me a jump scare.
In the comments of the video, you can see lots of people pointing out this unusual shift in the music, and the subsequent shift not long after. Sonic sneak attacks aside, it’s pretty impressive what Tim Follin (the game’s soundtrack writer) was able to do with an 8-bit processor.
The second song is more contemporary to my life, and caused brief confusion more than a instinctual flight response. “The Call of the Vague” is the 8th track off Bambi’s Dilemma, so even if it was your first foray into MxBx’s Klein bottle-kaleidoscope chaos, you’ll know somethin’ ain’t right with how the song begins, because it begins like a normal song. I had first thought, on the fateful summer ride on the passenger bus home from work, that someone had slipped a boring Nirvana song (I repeat myself) into the mp3s I had definitely legally downloaded the night before. At the 12 second mark, I literally thought, “Okay, nevermind…there we go.”
This is probably as sane as Melt-Banana will ever sound, and it only lasts for a dozen seconds.
2 Comments
The Solstice theme reminds me of a certain collection of high-brow compositions in the early days of the Moog synthesizer. Those guys could throw in some sudden shifts in the mood. No comment on Melt-Banana.
The Moog was an interesting instrument, if a bit unwieldly. I used to listen to a solo act (Joy Electric), who used Moogs nearly exclusively in his music.