Review : YMCK Family Music on CD

Last week I was contacted my a music label that was publishing a album by a Japanese band called YMCK and their album Family Music. They were kind enough to send me a sample CD and I have been listening to it for the past couple of days.

YMCK is a cool, nerdy Japanese band that makes their music from old school sounds and synths from the 8-bit era. It is really something to behold. This is combined with soft female vocals and game inspired lyrics in Japanese. This is not techno or dance music but jazzy pop with a hint of old ragtime but through a filter of Nintendo games of a bygone era. The music of YMCK is hard to classify and hard to explain. I command all of you to go and download the sample song Magical 8-bit Tour in MP3. They work in some awesome harmonies and melodies while still remaining true to the spirit of the 8-bit video game music tools. The music is unabashedly electronic but is not techno, electro or rave. You know what? I like it.

The name of the trio is a word spoof on their names and the printing color scheme CMYK. The name of the album is clearly based on the Japanese name of the 8-bit Nintendo system the Famicom or Family Computer. I really hope that this band soars to the top of the Tokyo music charts in the face of the image and cliche crazy Japanese pop cultural norms. I would have probably got this CD had I found it at a local store or on Apple iTunes. The US CD notes have an English translation of all the lyrics. It is impossible to listen to this music with out letting your mind wander around the simplistic stylized cyberspace of old school games. While this borrows concepts and tones there is no remixing or lifting of classic game music but this album clearly can stand next to most old school game soundtracks. My favorite track was Tetrominon From Russia with Blocks. Guess what game it is about?

I would recommend this to anyone with a working NES or looks forward to a Nintendo Revolution for the classic emulation. This album inspired me to dust off my top loading NES and play 8-bit games for several hours while YMCK's Family Music played from my iPod. This reminded me why I love classic 8-bit games so much and I tip my hat to the band for that. I can't wait to see what happens next to this band and this album is on heavy rotation on my iPod.