Kasatochi: PROG

Oh, look over there – Kasatochi is back!

Right-click to download kasatochi3.zip (158mb)

As promised last week, this collection is much more narrowly focused, on two of my favorite orchestral-prog-rock songwriters/performers/producers. Each gets equal time on this bunch of chiptune conversions, which finally comes in at under the record time of a CD-R.

The tracklisting may baffle those expecting to hear the heavy-radio-airplay hits. In many cases the available MIDI files of the songs in question just didn’t make for good chiptunes. I wasn’t even necessarily able to do my favorites! What a deal. Track listing after the jump.

Kasatochi – PROG

01 – Nightrider
02 – Beaujolais
03 – From The Sun To The World
04 – Breakdown
05 – On The Run
06 – Doctor Tarr & Professor Fether
07 – Rockaria!
08 – Standing On Higher Ground
09 – Dreaming Of 4000
10 – I Robot
11 – I Wouldn’t Want To Be Like You
12 – Daybreaker
13 – Damned If I Do
14 – Poker
15 – Some Other Time
16 – The Lights Go Down
17 – Time
18 – Xanadu

The keys to finding a decent MIDI of any given song that makes for good chiptunage is in finding something a bit “jumpy” Even the best harmonies, if they’re “on” for the whole song, get turned into a bagpipe-like drone by chiptune conversion. It’s tolerable for a little while, but gets old pretty quickly. The songs featured here were uniquely well-suited to chiptune arrangements.

And yes, the man on the cover is half Jeff Lynne head, half Alan Parsons head, and Tom Baker’s shoulders, complete with scarf. (I had to find another ‘fro worthy of Jeff’s. There was really only one viable candidate.)

This collection points the way forward, by the way: I’m no longer going to try to “fill a CD”. The next few releases will aim for EP length, and each will be themed – maybe an era or a particular year, maybe a particular performer, maybe something weirder than that. Stay tuned!