Nintendo Hyper 8-bit... Tori Amos?

I've said before that the Donkey Kong Land games have some of my favourite soundtracks because the brilliance of the compositions means they're not only listenable in 8-bit but also listenable the 10,000th time you hear them, which all people who have played Donkey Kong will know because those games were so hard.

Banner's masterful covers brought back all that I loved about those euphoric soundtracks, and the hypnotic effect they had on me as I switched into the trance-like state I needed to in order to let my reflexes play the game for me (the only way to do it on the harder levels). They also bring out things I have never heard in Amos' compositions before.

I have listened to From The Choirgirl Hotel hundreds of times. Although I notice something new on each occasion, not being especially musical, I didn't pick up on many of the musical layers and phrases I heard after listening to Banner's version. I am now going to go back and listen to Choirgirl again to try and find them.

This find has made my day, and has reinforced how happy I am to live in an age where someone can create this little piece of art that fuses incredible compositions with a beloved musical medium, put it on the internet and distribute it for free (yes!) so that fans of those things can put it on a device about the size of a Quality Street and listen to it wherever they go.

The Lord of the Rings-esque drawing in the Choirgirl sleevenotes.

It's now in my music library alongside that other game-inspired classic, Mega Ran & Lost Perception's Black Materia album.

Thanks internet!


*Music genres are all made up, right?