Tuesday, January 27, 2009

The thin line between genius and madness...

Thanks to Thomas Bunstead for drawing my attention to one of the most bizarre and joyfully absurd musical ensembles of our time: the C64 Orchestra.

In short, the C64 Orchestra is a group of classically-trained musicians who perform the soundtracks from Commodore 64 computer games of the 1980s. Some of them sound quiet good when they're orchestrated and this clip sounds a little like John Adams.

The screen in the background is slightly obscured by a bald Dutchman, but you get the general idea:

Whatever next? The Nokia Ringtone Orchestra?

4 comments:

AF said...

I listened with an open mind and loved this - quite a beautiful sound and a brave musical statement.
Perhaps a kind of contemporary 'pictures at an exhibition' and undoubtably edging towards genius rather than madness.
Wonder what Sir Cloudsey Shovel would make of it?

Steerforth said...

The C64 music has a slightly Baroque quality, so I feel confident that Sir Shovel would be tapping his feet and waving his handkerchief to the rhythm.

paul-simon said...

so chiptune gets to the bourgeoisie? glad you like it, and the pretentious comments on it's 'baroqueness'. Y'all think that videogames and movies corrupt the nations youth?

Steerforth said...

In your case, it's anesthetise rather than corrupt, but perhaps the humour was lost in translation.